Integrity Pledges: Over 1 000 individuals commit to clean governance

Trust Freddy Herald Correspondent

OVER 1 000 individuals have signed the integrity pledges of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, while this year a record number of dockets have been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority for prosecution.

So far this year, ZACC has completed 36 case files with an estimated value of US$145 million of tainted assets recovered from corrupt individuals, this against a target of US$1 billion.

By 14 December there were 29 convictions and 15 acquittals from the 239 dockets referred to the NPA. In an interview, ZACC spokesperson Commissioner Thandiwe Mlobane said a total of 65 high-profile individuals were part of the 247 arrests that were made by the organisation this year.

“During the year, ZACC received 937 reports of alleged corruption and abuse of office,” she said. Out of this total, ZACC referred 140 to ZRP for further management and 197 to relevant institutions or gave legal advice to the complainant where the matter was purely civil and not criminal in nature.

“Examples of such cases include neighbours fighting over boundaries or family reporting each other on inheritance matters.”

From the record-breaking pile of dockets referred to the NPA to the large number of integrity pledges signed, ZACC has been using three approaches: investigations for prosecutions, asset recovery and prevention of corruption.

“To date, the commission has engaged 185 institutions on a one-on-one basis and encouraged them to formulate integrity strategies and establish these integrity committees,” said Commissioner Mlobane.

“Now 150 integrity committees have been established and are at various stages of being trained by ZACC’s secretariat. A total of 1 111 individuals have signed integrity pledges and committed to uphold integrity all the time, thus preventing corruption from taking place within their spheres of influence.

“The commission has been to 56 Districts in the country carrying the message that corruption is bad for individuals and society and should be refused, resisted and reported. As ZACC, our activities have yielded excellent results as there is awareness by would-be corrupt individuals that if one is caught carrying out acts of corruption, they risk arrest and ultimately conviction. That is working as a deterrent measure.”

In terms of asset recovery, Commissioner Mlobane said the commission was facing challenges as some of the assets were outside the country where it had no jurisdiction to investigate.

But ZACC has signed memorandums of understanding with its counterparts in Botswana, Zambia and Malawi to assist in the identification of tainted assets stashed in their countries.

“In addition, the National Prosecuting Authority has been engaged to follow through on what is called mutual legal assistance where countries assist each other formally to identify and ensure court orders for the repatriation of stolen funds back to the affected countries as agreed under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption,” said Commissioner Mlobane.