Parliament says Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission is grossly underfunded

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services says the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission is grossly underfunded and was allocated only $3.351 million in this year’s budget when it had requested $17.4 million for operations only excluding salaries.

Committee chair Tshinga Dube said the commission  is the lead institution in fighting corruption in the new dispensation, therefore, it should be fully funded so that it sets all the necessary structures and systems required to effectively deliver on its mandate to curb Zimbabwe’s number one enemy – corruption.

“This allocation is 0.07% of the total National Budget and is far below the international best practices of allocating at least 5% of the National Budget to the Anti-Corruption agencies to cater for recurrent and capital expenditures,” Dube said.

“We recommend that ZACC should be allocated adequate funds so that it fills in all the 141 vacancies so that effective structures and systems are set up and operationalised as soon as possible.

“Sub offices in Midlands, Bulawayo, Masvingo and Manicaland will be set up, manned and operationalised.”

Dube said ZACC staff should be paid salaries that are in line with those of other Anti-Corruption Commissions in the Southern African Development Community so that it can attract, retain and effectively utilize specialist staff skills with ideal qualifications to investigate corruption cases that are complex in nature.

“Temptation to accept bribes from corrupt criminals by the Commission’s officers is reduced and rather the Commission’s officers will be motivated to discharge their duties,” he said.

Full recommendations

HON. T. DUBE: Hon. Speaker Sir, I am presenting my 2018 post budget analysis for Zimbabwe Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services.

The Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services has an oversight role over the Ministries of Defence, Security and War Veterans; Home Affairs and Culture and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC). During 2018 post budget review, your Committee analysed the budget allocation for the Ministries of Defence, Security, War Veterans; Home Affairs and Culture and ZACC and received oral submissions from the Ministry officials and Commission representatives.

Several observations were made from the budget allocation about the ministries and the Commission’s funding, needs and gaps and the performance implications of the budget allocations. These observations culminated into key recommendations which if implemented, will improve the operational efficiency of these ministries and the Commission. Below is the economic analysis of the allocation to each Ministry and ZACC.

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