by Sam Kabanda

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has pledged an all-out war against corruption by various players from different quarters this year. This came out of a series posts from the Commission’s Chairperson, Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo on the ZACC Facebook page.

“Land Barons will fall. Those accepting bribes will fall. Those embezzling public funds will fall. Tax evaders will fall. Smugglers will fall. Corrupt politicians, corrupt businessmen and all the corrupt will fall. 2021 is the year of up-rooting corruption from all our public and private institutions including NGOs,” Justice Matanda-Moyo posted.

The ZACC Chairperson appealed for co-operation among countries in dealing with illicit flows of proceeds of crime and corruption. She urged other countries to make it easier to repatriate proceeds of corruption.

“As we go into 2021, my wish is to see more international collaboration in preventing illicit financial flows to their countries. Closing the market for illicit financial flows will force the corrupt to disengage from corruption. The International community should relax their laws in terms of repatriation of stolen assets. They should make it easier for countries to easily repatriate proceeds of corruption. Corruption should find no room in democracies as its effects are quite erosive to the generality of our citizens,” Justice Matanda-Moyo said.

The ZACC boss thanked members of the public and other stakeholders for assisting the Commission in various ways to enable it to discharge its mandate.

 “I commend those who sacrificed themselves by exposing corruption and testifying in our various courts. Your efforts will soon be rewarded through increased service delivery by our public institutions as more resources would find their way into the public purse. Let us all join hands in ensuring the fall of corruption in 2021,” she posted.

The ZACC Chairperson’s message came against a background of gross abuse of office by MDC Alliance-dominated urban local authorities. Last year saw the arrest of MDC Alliance councillors and municipal executives such as Herbert Gomba, Jacob Mafume and Hosiah Chisango among many others for abuse of office. Their cases are pending before the courts.