Gift Mashoko

Zimbabwe has joined other member states in the world to fight against corruption, Permanent Secretary in the State Enterprise Reform and Corporate Governance and Procurement Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Willard Manungo has said.

Permanent Secretary Manungo said this today in Harare while addressing delegates sent by United Nations (UN) to Zimbabwe from Cape Verde and Angola. The UN sent the delegates to continue with the review of Zimbabwe’s progress in the implementation of the UN convention against corruption.

The Permanent Secretary said Zimbabwe has joined the rest of the world in the fight against corruption highlighting that corruption causes a lot of suffering.

“We are striving to join the rest of the world in the implementation of provisions that are enshrined in the UN convention policy on corruption. As Zimbabwe we are joining other member states in adding our voice and our own action to dealing with this challenge of corruption.

 “World over the issue of corruption causes untold suffering especially to the voiceless who become the victims. Whilst it takes tireless efforts for any country to be considered as complaint in as much as the UN convention is concerned,” he said.

He also said that Zimbabwe on its quest towards economic recovery was fighting against corruption as it hinders investment.

“As a nation striving towards economic recovery, one of Zimbabwe’s priorities is to have an enabling environment for private and public investment from within and outside our borders. If we are going to be successful in that quest to have and enabling environment, it requires that we do more to combat corruption as this hinders efforts to bring in investment.

“On that score our own President Emmerson Mnangagwa has proclaimed a policy of zero tolerance to corruption. As Zimbabwe we all need to hold the stand with his Excellency to shun corruption of all kinds if we are going to be successful in promoting his mantra which is, Zimbabwe is open for business,” said Manungo.

Permanent Secretary Manungo also said to succeed as a nation Zimbabwe needed to weed out corruption.

“We will not succeed if we are not seen as weeding out corruption building strong systems of follow ups in corrupt activities and the whole judiciary system if we are going to build ordinary citizens trust to deal with corruption which erodes public confidence undermines the strength of democracy and diminishes the creativity or innovation,” he said.

If one looks at the Presidents vision 2030 of a prosperous and empowered upper middle income society, also contained in the TSP, assists us to reach an upper middle income by 2030. To achieve this vision corruption must be weeded out as it is an enemy of development and good governance.