On numerous occasions, the MDC, as a social democratic political party that is anchored on the values of honesty, integrity, accountability and transparency, has called for the arrest and prosecution of all corrupt public and private individuals as long as there has been thorough, unbiased, impartial and diligent investigation.
As a political party, the MDC has resolutely adopted a zero tolerance policy to all forms of corruption. Thus, without fear or favour, the MDC would like to call for the uncompromising enforcement of the country’s anti – corruption laws as well as the arrest and prosecution of all suspects as long as the evidence against them is strong and unassailable.
Put differently, the MDC fervently and passionately advocates for a policy where all corrupt persons, no matter who they are or what office they hold in the public or private sector, have to be hauled before a competent court of law whenever and wherever a prima facie case of corruption has been established against them. There shouldn’t be any sacred cows in matters pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of anyone who, on reasonable grounds, has been alleged to have committed any act of corruption.
Against this background, therefore, the MDC is calling for the investigation of all known and reported cases of corruption; whether or not such cases involve highly placed and influential politicians and other public and private sector officials. Corruption is simply defined as the abuse of one’s office for private gain.
Cases of rampant and unmitigated corruption, over the years, have been reported at the Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS), the various subsidiary companies of Zesa Holdings, the Parks & Wildlife Management Authority, Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef), the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, Air Zimbabwe, the diamond mining sector etc. It is very saddening and indeed, depressing to note that the ZACC has not been given enough latitude and space to thoroughly investigate these reported cases of insipid and debilitating corruption.
Unfortunately, Zimbabwe has since gained a notorious reputation of being one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Transparency International, in its latest report on corruption in Zimbabwe, disclosed that the country is losing at least US$1 billion every year because of corruption. This is a very startling statistic especially considering the fact that Zimbabwe is being run on an annual budget of about US$4 billion. This, effectively, means that at least one quarter of our budget is lost through the cancer of corruption annually. Corruption militates against socio – economic development and it invariably causes political upheaval and instability.
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