NDAMU SANDU
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has seized property worth US$136m since 2019 as it toughens its stance against graft with its chairperson insisting the dragnet is targeted at everyone regardless of position in society.
“ZACC has the power to seize. From 2019 when we established the Asset Recovery Unit, we have seized property worth USD$136m,” chairperson Justice Loyce Matanda-Moyo told Business Times.
The seizure comes as critics accuse ZACC of targeting small fish leaving the political and economic heavies.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said it was a perception deliberately created by critics that ZACC feared the big boys.
“The net is wide to accommodate both the big and small fish alike. All cases reported to ZACC are investigated. There are a lot of dockets involving the big fish which have been processed before the courts,” she said.
ZACC stands accused of being allegedly used by the politically connected to settle personal scores amid fears by critics the anti-graft body would be abused as the country heads toward the harmonised elections.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said her organisation “prides itself for being professional. Dockets are compiled based on evidence which can stand the scrutiny by courts and ZACC has put in place mechanism that allow for proper investigations to be conducted without any fear or favour,” she said.
“Therefore, whether it is an election year or not, the standard remains the same. We are blind to the seasons and very much alert to corrupt activities,” Justice Matanda-Moyo said.
The President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration has declared zero tolerance to corruption. Mnangagwa has fired three ministers after they were fingered in alleged corrupt practices. The cases are pending at the courts.
He has also established anti-corruption courts to stem the vice.
