Chronicle Editor
Heather Charema Mash West Correspondent
DEEP-ROOTED corruption is stalling investment in many councils in Mashonaland West Province, Karoi Town Council chairperson Mr Richard Ziki has said. Speaking at the Mashonaland West provincial conference on National Investment Policy, Mr Ziki said corruption had become so engraved in local authorities that it was no longer easy to bring the culprits to book.
“Corruption in local authorities in Zimbabwe has increased to the level where you cannot pinpoint who is corrupt and who is not. Even the stakeholders are corrupt,” said Mr Ziki.
He said some stakeholders were bribing councillors and council officials in order to get land and were insisting on giving the contact persons stipends.
“Some would-be investors are corrupt to the extent that they put pressure on some local authorities to accept bribes from them. It is well known that some people are corrupt by nature, but the stakeholders and residents should be the whistle-blowers and not accomplices of corruption,” he said.
Zimbabwe Investment Authority investment executive Mr Farai Sagonda, who presented on the National Investment Policy said corruption was one of the major factors lowering foreign direct investment in Zimbabwe.
“One of the major challenges faced by investors is corruption; this has lowered the flow of foreign direct investments,” he said.
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