THE government is still in the process of crafting a Whistleblowers Protection law to protect individuals who report graft cases in private and public institutions, Home Affairs deputy minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told Parliament yesterday.
VENERANDA LANGA
Ziyambi made the disclosure while responding to a question by Proportional Representation MP Fanny Chirisa (MDC-T) who wanted to know if the government had taken steps towards enacting the law in light of the rise in cases of corruption and obligations to protect whistleblowers under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs, through the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commisson (ZACC), is still working towards enacting the Whistleblowers Act,” Ziyambi said. “Consultations are on-going to ensure the final draft is solid enough to ensure whistleblowers are protected.”
Ziyambi also disclosed that ZACC’s term of office had been extended by President Robert Mugabe’s office, but MPs demanded to know under which section of the law the extension had taken place. Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda then ordered Ziyambi to go back and research on the law which Mugabe used to extend ZACC commissioners’ term of office.
Meanwhile, Zanu PF legislators said the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should explain to the House why ZiscoSteel had failed to take off four years after Mugabe officiated at the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the ministry and new investors Essar Africa Holdings.
Industry deputy minister Chiratidzo Mabuwa promised that in the next three months ZiscoSteel would be operating, adding that Lancashire Steel would start manufacturing wire. Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba also said the Industry and Commerce Ministry should look at ways of taxing informal traders selling shoes in the streets as they were evading taxes, adding that the sale of second-hand clothes should be banned as it was stifling the growth of the local industry.
Mabuwa said plans were underway to close loopholes at border posts through setting up of a Border Posts Authority.
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