Zimpapers Logo

Flora Fadzai Sibanda , [email protected]

THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) is holding a three-day training workshop on establishment of integrity committees at local authorities in Matabeleland South and Bulawayo.

In attendance are rural district chief executive officers and council workers who started the first day of the workshop by signing integrity pledges.

Speaking at the workshop Zacc commissioner Fungayi Jessie Majome said the workshop was important because setting integrity committees has proved to be an effective way of controlling corruption in city councils.

She said integrity committees are teams which comprise of different people from an office, usually from the lower management, who help to maintain order in companies and are responsible for being whistle blowers in case of corruption taking place.

“We already have a number of integrity teams working in the country. Of great interest this year is that Zacc has opened a number of offices in other cities unlike long back when they were only in Bulawayo and Harare. We are also happy to say almost 74 percent of our cases which were reported had been convicted and a number of illegal properties have been seized,” she said

The general manager- prevention for Zacc Mrs Clara Nyakotyo said establishing the integrity committees within local authorities is important because it strengthens their corrupt free system which will make work easy.

She said coming up with an integrity committee is important because it makes it easy to combat corruption within heads of institutions.

“As Zacc we cannot be everywhere, that is why these integrity committees are important. We are not only targeting local authorities but parastatals, public service and private institutions are also included. We already have a few institutions like Zinara and the municipal of Mutare which already have existing integrity committees,” said Mrs Nyakotyo.

The Beitbridge Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr Peter Moyo said it was of great interest that Zacc was training them on how to combat corruption within their institutions by themselves, before they include anyone else.

He said signing the pledge was important because it will set as a reminder to each and every council worker that corruption was not the way to go and should not be accepted at all cost.

“I am really excited because this will help to grow my district and help us to combat any corruption cases which we might be having. I am going to encourage everyone from my district who signed this pledge today to hang it in their offices so that whenever they think of being involved in corruption they stop themselves,” said Mr Moyo.

Matobo rural district CEO Mr Elvis Sibanda said the workshop was long overdue as they had been waiting for it for some time now.

@flora_sibanda