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Prosecutor-General Mr Johannes Tomana

The crusade against corruption is gaining momentum as evidenced by increasing cases of graft being exposed by the media. What is also comforting is that some of those fingered in corruption have already appeared in court.
The wheels of justice are probably moving slowly for the ordinary man in the streets who would have wanted the culprits locked away yesterday. It should however be appreciated that some of the cases are very complex and as such investigations are likely to take long. The police have in the past been accused by the courts of arresting to investigate instead of investigating to arrest.

Most of the cases have as a result been lost on technicalities. It is probably this shortcoming that the police are trying to address by taking their time to investigate. In some of the cases that have been exposed, complainants are yet to report the cases to the police so that investigations can start.

We have said it before that there is no going back in the exercise of cleaning both the public and private sectors of this cancerous vice that is adversely affecting the growth of our economy. It is not only criminal to engage in corruption but is also morally wrong.

Corruption should therefore be declared society’s number one enemy and should be fought from all fronts. The government has pledged its commitment to tackle corruption head on. It is because of corruption that chief executives of parastatals and government enterprises have been paying themselves hefty salaries and perks despite the fact that the country is battling to turn around the economy.

A lot of ground has been covered in exposing cases of corruption and there is therefore need to complement this by setting in motion the wheels of justice which involve investigations, arrests and finally prosecuting the culprits. We totally agree with the Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana that there is urgent need to capacitate the institutions mandated to fight corruption if we are to win this war.

Tomana, who was briefing the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on Monday, said the institutions to fight corruption are either non-existent or incapacitated both on the legal framework and resource aspect. He said for example the National Prosecuting Authority was still to be fully functional as it had no staff complement of its own while the enabling legislative framework had not yet been put in place.

“We have not been able to operate at optimum. We don’t have adequate human resources and at that level you expect adequate budgetary support. As we speak NPA is the most unsupported institution with a very heavy load on its shoulders,” said Tomana.

He said commissioners to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission were yet to be appointed. The government should therefore prioritise capacitating these institutions if it is to succeed in its fight against corruption. Individuals involved in corruption will get away with murder as long as our prosecuting authority is weak as a result of lack of resources.

Members of the public can only have confidence in our justice delivery system if the prosecuting authority succeeds in prosecuting those accused of corruption. Jailing the culprits will be deterrent hence the importance of strengthening the prosecuting authority.

We want to once again implore the government to move with speed to put in place the institutions mandated to fight corruption as well as allocate them adequate resources so that those accused of corruption can quickly be brought to book.