BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
GOVERNMENT should show commitment towards combating corruption through ensuring transparency and accountability in the administration of public funds, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) has said.
Describing corruption in Zimbabwe as a “cancer that calls for divine surgery”, Zimcodd said: “Although the new dispensation, under the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has an ambitious reform agenda to combat corruption, nothing has not really been done in bringing the culprits to book with “catch and release” game being the order of the day.”
According to the latest Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, Zimbabwe was ranked 160 out of 175 countries, highlighting that US$1 billion was lost annually through corruption.
Corruption in the southern African nation has become endemic in the political, private and civil sectors.
The Auditor-General’s 2018 report unearthed rampant cases of corruption in both government departments and State-owned enterprises, but nothing has been done to the perpetrators.
“Corruption, thus remains an underlying cause of underdevelopment and the socio-economic crisis bedeviling Zimbabwe. There is need for government to show commitment towards combatting corruption through ensuring transparency and accountability in the administration of public funds,” the organisation said.
“This will contribute positively towards government’s efforts to fulfill its mandate to ensure progressive realisation of citizens’ socio-economic rights.”
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Zimcodd said it was ironic to note that the resources mobilised through taxation and other government revenue sources have not contributed to the realisation of people’s socio-economic rights due to corruption, poor governance as well as violation of procurement procedures.
“The social contract that exists between government as a duty bearer and citizens as right holders is eroded due to low investments towards social service delivery, perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty,” it said.
