Zim to step up anti-corruption drive

CHENGETAI ZVAUYA

A Ugandan judge of the anti-corruption courts will be in the country by month-end as Zimbabwe taps into the East African nation to fight corruption.

Zimbabwe has been performing dismally on the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index and was ranked 160 out of 180 countries.

Chief Justice Luke Malaba told Business Times said the government has scaled the up its efforts in putting in place mechanisms connected with the fight. He said Zimbabwe will tap into the experience of Uganda which has been running specialised anti-corruption courts for the last 10 years.

“A judge in charge of the Uganda anti-corruption courts will be coming to Zimbabwe before the end of this month to share Uganda’s experience with judges and magistrates. We have also requested the same judge to interact with other players in the justice sector such as the National Prosecuting Authority, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and the Zimbabwe Republic Police,” Malaba said.

“After noting the strides that other jurisdictions have taken in setting up similar courts, I made contact with my Uganda counterpart the Honourable Chief Justice of Uganda Bart Magunda Katureebe to seek assistance in the professional development of local judicial officers.

I am positive that our judicial officers and other institutions involved in the fight against corruption will have a lot of lessons to draw from Uganda’s experiences.”

He said a perception had developed in the public that the administration of justice was not serious about the publicly declared commitment to fight corruption. The courtrooms for use by the anti-corruption department are currently, under renovations, Malaba said.

He has appointed judges who will preside over the specialised anti-corruption courts in Harare and Bulawayo.

While magistrates presiding over specialised anti-corruption courts have undergone training sessions on how to deal with cases of corruption, the judges are yet to receive that kind of professional development.

According to a United Nations (UN) report, corruption in the judiciary erodes confidence in the economy.

“When corruption occurs in the judiciary, it undermines the very principles of fairness and due process of law and can negatively affect the much-needed investment in developing countries. It erodes the public confidence that judicial outcomes are just and without undue pressure or influence from outside,” UN said.

Government has joined in the fight against corruption by setting up the Zimbabwe Anti- Corruption Commission (ZACC) chaired by Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said his administration would have no sacred cows in the fight against corruption.

ZACC has been given arresting powers.

The anti-corruption drive has claimed the scalp of former Tourism Prisca Mupfumira who is out on bail following his arrest last year on allegations of having abused US$95m in public funds.

Former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko is also facing accusations of criminal abuse of office after he unlawfully instructed police officers to release cells former Zimbabwe National Road Administration acting chief executive Moses Juma.

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