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Govt urged to stop interfering in Zacc’s duties

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GOVERNMENT has been urged to stop interfering in the operations of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) to enable the independent constitutional body to fulfil its mandate of investigating graft and fraud, which have cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenue.

GOVERNMENT has been urged to stop interfering in the operations of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) to enable the independent constitutional body to fulfil its mandate of investigating graft and fraud, which have cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenue.

BY Everson Mushava

OBERT-GUTU

President Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba on Monday fumed at Zacc, accusing the anti-corruption watchdog of causing chaos in government by rushing to the media with half-baked information without following procedures of investigating matters.

This is despite that Zacc had secured a court order to probe various corruption cases at several parastatals among them the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, which allegedly un-procedurally acquired 35 vehicles worth $900 000.

While Charamba said the vehicles were bought using Cabinet authority, it has since emerged that government authorised the purchase of Toyota Hilux single cab vehicles and not the Ford Rangers that were bought.

Sources close to the developments also claimed that the use of a CMED running tender was meant to circumvent Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, which had raided ZBC accounts.

Zacc was also probing the $500 000 sale of Kingstons Building by a two-member board, amid allegations that $116 000 was unaccounted for.

MDC spokesperson, Obert Gutu said Zacc was an independent constitutional commission that should be left to carry out its duties without any undue and improper interference.

“In fact, the MDC urges the Zacc to immediately investigate Charamba regarding the more than $100 000 that he was paid by PSMAS, where he was a board member. Charamba should just shut up and let the Zacc carry on with its constitutional mandate to investigate all issues of corruption,” he said.

Zimbabwe People First Harare provincial spokesperson, Jealousy Mawarire said it was interesting to note that three institutions, two of them falling under Charamba’s purview, were under probe.

“Charamba is not an authority on corruption. If he wants to be a Zacc commissioner or employee of the commission, he should apply for the job,” he said.

“An affidavit was written to satisfy the magistrate that there was prima facie evidence for the issuance of a warrant of search and seizure, which was granted by a competent court of law and his rants are a pure case of contempt of court and he should be arrested and obstruction of justice.”

Charamba was a board member at PSMAS, where top executives and board members allegedly helped themselves to close to $30 million in benefits outside salaries.

People’s Democratic Party spokesperson, Jacob Mafume said: “Charamba is deliberately accusing a commission of acting like a rattle snake disturbing the government, which has pythons of corruption — big snakes of corruption that are swallowing everything they can eat on sight. They want to act as if exposing corruption is national security threat, whereas their corruption is the threat.

He said the commission was not a government, but an independent body.