Opposition, media deplore growing corruption

Zimbabwe’s ranking in 48th position of 99 nations surveyed in the Corruption Perceptions Index published this week by the NGO, Transparency International, had brought shame on the country, opposition politicians, newspapers and activists said. “This has become our biggest scourge and shame,” Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told IRIN on Friday. “In the last two to three years, corruption has spread from government institutions right through into the private sector. This coupled with a leadership in Zimbabwe that has become a liability, and the free-fall economic crisis is the biggest problem we have in the country today.” An opposition newspaper, ‘The Daily News’, in an editorial said the government of President Robert Mugabe had always lacked a firm commitment against corruption: “There are moves now, nearly 20 years after independence, to set up an anti-corruption unit within the police. Some people might say this is too little, too late.” Almost daily, newspapers in Zimbabwe carry stories of officials demanding handouts, ranging from traffic officers willing to waive a fine for a payout, or the case, reported this time by a pro-government newspaper, ‘The Herald’, of a town engineer who had allegedly requisitioned a municipal vehicle for his private use. John Makumbe, Transparency International’s chairman in Zimbabwe, said international companies and corporate foreign investors promoted bribery in the quest for lucrative tenders, while the government bureaucracy contributed through its willingness to accept the bribes. “There seems to be no will on the part of government to prosecute people involved in corruption,” Makumbe said. “The data which we have shows how urgent it is that all major exporting nations ratify the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials in international business.” Bidi Munyaradzi, director of the international donor-funded human and civic rights organisation, Zimrights, told IRIN the economic crisis in Zimbabwe made the country a target ripe for corruption: “With the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar, prices for fuel and staple foods going up, the poor get poorer and the wealthy clique gets richer, so public service organisations like the police are forced into corruption,” he said. It should be no surprise, therefore, given the lack of public accountability, that international lending agencies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank withhold their support.