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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
GOVERNMENT should urgently craft legislation to protect whistle blowers and individuals who testify against those fingered in graft cases, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has said.

Speaking at an anti-corruption conference which was held in Victoria Falls last week, Zacc deputy chairperson, Dr Nanette Silukhuni, said there is need to put in place mechanisms to protect citizens who would have provided information on cases of corruption.

She said while the Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill which is on the cards to empower Zacc to investigate institutions, there is need for a law to specifically protect whistle blowers and witnesses for them to freely give evidence.

“The Bill will give us power and all I am saying is that Zacc is open for business. We want to receive cases and investigate them hence the need for legislation improvement,” said Dr Silukhuni.

“For now we don’t have legislation that protects the whistle-blower and witnesses and we have to learn from other countries in that regard. We need to introduce new legislation and this needs to be given strong attention for protection of witnesses and whistle-blowers.”

She implored lawmakers to urgently realign corporate laws to the Constitution.

Dr Silukhuni said Zacc, which is expected to launch a national strategy on corruption, was also looking at decentralising its operations countrywide.

Currently the anti-corruption watchdog has two offices in Harare.

Dr Silukhuni appealed to local authorities who may have offices to spare to “donate to Zacc.”

She also said there is need to include anti-corruption studies in the country’s curriculum for the nation to raise a corruption-free generation and leave a legacy of integrity.

“Zimbabwe is no longer at that stage where we need to debate about corruption but we should fight both grand and petty cases forthwith. We need to leave a legacy by raising a corruption-free generation,” she said.

Participants at the conference recommended that systems should be put in place for suspects to be named and shamed while they are still occupying office than to wait for them to leave.

Government has made the fight against corruption a priority.

@ncubeleon