Senior Zimbabwean official says corruption hurting economy

HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Zimbabwe’s prosecutor general — the former head of the country’s anti-corruption commission — says corruption is costing the country nearly $2 billion annually, devastating the economy and ordinary citizens. It is the first time a senior Zimbabwean official has made such an accusation publicly.Revelations this week by Loice Matanda-Moyo that billions of dollars are leaving Zimbabwe through illicit deals have contradicted the narrative of other government officials. They have often blamed economic challenges on targeted sanctions over election-rigging and human rights abuses.

At a training workshop for government officials in Harare Tuesday, Matanda-Moyo called for immediate action. She said corruption remains one of the barricades to resuscitating Zimbabwe’s economy and estimated the country is losing $1.8 billion a year due to corruption.

“That is a huge sum of money, and you can imagine what $1.8 billion could do,” Matanda-Moyo said. “Such illicit financial flows are unacceptable and bleed the economy of revenue meant to promote sustainable economic development and the betterment of all Zimbabweans. It is time that we eradicate corruption in Zimbabwe and recover stolen assets.”

No one from the government has responded to her accusations.

Economist Gift Mugano said Zimbabwe’s annual revenue losses to corruption are too much, adding that even the World Bank has never allocated that much to Zimbabwe within a one-year period. Mugano said $1.8 billion is a low estimate.

“Remember $1.8 billion is just illicit financial flows leaving the country,” Mugano said.

“We also have a larger chunk of internal corruption which averages around $1 billion every year — which is reported by the auditor general every year. If you then add those two numbers, you are then moving close to $3 billion, which is currently half of our budget which we are wasting.”

VOA reached out to Zimbabwe’s Anti-Corruption Commission with questions, but has received no response.

John Maketo is program director at the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, a non-profit organization that fights for socio-economic justice. He said a moribund economy, inadequate regulatory oversight and legislative loopholes create a breeding ground for corruption.

“The fact that we have a whole anti-corruption commission is not enough,” he said. “The commission must be supported with strong and sound systems in terms of prosecution of corruption cases.

“We also need to have other support systems, starting with political will at the highest level to the lowest level of political governance, even the judiciary system, being tough on passing deterrent sentences on people that are charged with corruption.”

Maketo said it is frustrating to see criminal cases launched by the anti-corruption commission “going nowhere.”

Citizens, he said, can only imagine how much their communities could benefit from stanching those losses.

“There is a whole system that needs to be propped up to reduce leakages,” he said. “You want to picture how much $1.8 billion can do, in terms of improving education service delivery, improving remuneration to teachers — how many rural teacher houses can be built, how many rural district clinics can be built using $1.8 billion?”

Since coming to power in 2018, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to deal with corruption. Mnangagwa, however, has faced criticism for the government’s alleged system of arresting but then acquitting suspects with connections to the president. Some citizens say the system is known as catch and release.

Paul Westwood was born in Zambia but made his home in Zimbabwe for a number of years before leaving the country. He has criticized the Zimbabwean government’s approach to corruption.

“The issue I have with corruption is [it’s] not taken seriously,” he said. “It’s so deep rooted. It’s so hard to end the corruption because everybody’s benefiting. The issue I have about corruption is nothing’s going to get done internally until when?”

Westwood said the current administration, as well as the previous government of the late President Robert Mugabe, ignored a businessman whom Westwood accused of corruptly taking over property Westwood owned. Westwood, who said he has British citizenship, left the country for the United Kingdom after that.