Online Reporter
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]
AS Zimbabwe intensifies the fight against corruption, public and private institutions have been called upon to establish integrity committees and sign integrity pledges as commitment to shunning graft.
An integrity pledge is a social contract through which a participant announces his or her commitment to act against corruption. The pledge is a commitment to act honestly and openly in all aspects to promote transparency and accountability as well as abiding by all laws and principles.
Last week the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) led a ceremony of signing of pledges by officers from Matabeleland South Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) in Gwanda.
In his address, Mr Tafirenyika Maringire, a senior Zacc official urged institutions to strengthen systems by mainstreaming corruption prevention mechanisms.
He said corruption was a major hindrance to attaining Vision 2030 hence Government has put in place several policies meant to bring the culprits to book. Zimbabwe is a member state to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and as one of the requirements the country has crafted a national policy to guide the fight against corruption.
This led to the launch by President Mnangagwa in 2020 of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and National Anti-Corruption Policy focused on six pillars. These are; citizen empowerment and participation in the fight against corruption, investigation or combating all forms of corruption through deterrent structures, demand for accountability and transparency in both private and public institutions. Other pillars are whistle blower protection, asset recovery and political will.
Mr Maringire said by December last year more than 12 600 integrity pledges had been administered within the public service. In 2023 Zacc signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Public Service Commission on signing integrity pledges starting with the commissioners and the management. This has seen the rolling out of the signing of integrity pledges throughout the civil service.
“As Zacc, it’s our mandate to promote issues of transparency and integrity within public and private institutions. As a country we adopted two initiatives, which are establishment of integrity committees and signing of integrity pledges to drive integrity issues within public institutions and to rope in citizens in the fight against corruption,” said Mr Maringire.
“For us to achieve Vision 2030 we have to ensure that the little resources we have are channelled towards service delivery.”
He said Zimbabwe has taken deliberate steps in the implementation of the anti-corruption strategy where the integrity committees are seen as a key tool to strengthen internal systems and streamlining corruption prevention mechanisms in both public and private institutions.
“The purpose of establishing integrity committees within institutions is two fold. Firstly, they bring the fight against corruption closer to the organisational level and secondly, they help strengthen internal systems to close loopholes that might allow for manipulation and resource misuse,” said Mr Maringire.
He said this ensures that resources intended for community development and fulfilling the organisation’s mandate are not lost to private gain by individuals entrusted with the resources.
Mr Maringire called for collective action in combatting corruption adding that the signing of integrity pledges by employees and citizens demonstrates a personal commitment to ethical conduct.
“We are saying refuse, resist and report corruption. The fight against corruption isn’t for Zacc only but it involves everyone with Zacc spearheading,” said Mr Maringire.
Last week, Zacc conducted a training of integrity committees from Insiza, Umzingwane, Beitbridge and Gwanda councils.
Mangwe, Bulilima and Matobo councils integrity committees were trained earlier.
The integrity committees are made up of council workers and are chaired by the councils’ internal auditors. — @DubeMatutu
