Mr. David Jamali, the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) has welcomed the arrest of the Zimbabwean Tourism minister Prisca Mupfumira and the former Principal Director at the State Residence, Douglas Tapfuma but urged the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to carry out thorough investigations and submit high quality dockets to the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) and Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) to ensure conviction of the suspects.
“My organisation is happy that ZACC and the Government of Zimbabwe are walking the talk against corruption. However, experience has shown that the majority of the suspects escape jail because of poor investigations and badly compiled dockets. We hope that this time around, all these gaps are going to be closed. We want to see convictions and people going to jail to send strong messages out there. If training is needed, ZACC should consider training its officers.” he says
Apart from raising concerns on the gaps in the investigations and quality of the dockets, Mr. Jamali, further urged ZACC to carry out lifestyle audits of all high-profile individuals since most of them have accumulated wealth which is not commensurate with their salaries.
“A high-profile corruption mapping exercise conducted by ACT-SA has shown convincingly that most, if not all individuals in high positions have accumulated wealth which they cannot explain looking at their salaries. Their names have also been fingered in corruption scandals which were not investigated to their logical conclusions. All high-profile individuals should be investigated. They have enjoyed impunity for a very long time and this must be stopped” he adds.
Again, several Zimbabwean individuals and companies have been involved in illicit financial flows. A long list of externalisers was also published by the Zimbabwean government but no action was taken against them. Mr. Jamali urged the Zimbabwean government to be serious in tackling illicit financial flows.
“ACT-SA’s International Desk has collected a lot of information on companies and individuals involved in externalisation. All the information is going to be forwarded to ZACC. We hope that the new ZACC is going to use the information to kick-start investigations. Zimbabwe is a beautiful country but its being messed up by these corrupt people.” he says
Zimbabwe is among the most corrupt countries in the world, which has severely compromised national development. Apart from being endowed with resources, Zimbabweans remain poor and have largely left the country for greener pastures elsewhere. This includes doctors, and engineers among others. Health service delivery has been paralysed because of the problem. There has been no political will to contain corruption.
The following is a list of reported corruption scandals in Zimbabwe since 1980, in which all those implicated enjoyed impunity and were promoted into higher office instead of being send to jail:
- 1987 – Zisco Steel blast Furnace Scandal
- 1987 – Air Zimbabwe Fokker Plane Scandal – $ 100 million
- 1986 – National Railways Housing Scandal
- 1988 – Willowgate Scandal
- 1989 – ZRP Santana Scandal
- 1994 – War Victims Compensation Scandal
- 1995 – GMB Grain Scandal
- 1996 – VIP Housing Scandal
- 1998 – Boka Banking Scandal
- 1998 – ZESA YTL Soltran Scandal
- 1998 – Telecel Scandal
- 1998 – Harare City Council Refuse Tender Scandal
- 1999 – Housing Loan Scandal
- 1999 – Noczim Scandal
- 1999 – DRC timber and diamond Un reported scandals
- 1999 – GMB Scandal
- 1999 – Ministry of water and rural development Chinese tender scandal
- 1999 – VIP Land Grab Scandal
- 2001 – Harare Airport Scandal
- 2008-2014 – Airport Road Scandal
- 2016 – Zimdef Funds Jonathan Moyo Scandal
- 2018 – Zesa scam Involving Samuel Undenge’s criminal abuse of office
The list is not exhaustive.
Source: Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-Southern Africa)
