Varsities sign integrity pledges

Remember Deketeke-Herald Correspondent

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has launched an inclusive and coordinated campaign against corruption as part of efforts to mitigate the vice in both public and private educational institutions.

Speaking ahead of the signing ceremony of integrity pledges in Harare yesterday by the integrity committee, which consists of educational institution workers, ZACC Commissioner Dr Ndakaripa Hungwe pledged to ensure higher learning institutions were not spared in the fight against corruption.

Universities would be able to fight corruption and show their dedication once they signed the integrity pledges by “firstly, enhancing the capacities of their integrity committees to discharge their roles and responsibilities in combating corruption, and secondly, affording an opportunity to members of the management and officials of the same authorities to, through signing of integrity pledges, publicly and voluntarily demonstrate their individual and personal commitment to fighting corruption,” she said.

Dr Hungwe said over 100 Government ministries, departments and agencies had signed these pledges, and having more people sign integrity pledges sought to ensure an integrated approach to fighting corruption.

“Similarly, the number of ZACC’s anti-corruption institutional partners continues to grow as demonstrated by the increasing number of integrity committees that continue to be set up in the public sector. 

“This indeed signifies the realisation of ZACC’s aspiration for an inclusive and synergic approach in the fight against corruption for the well-being of our nation,” she said.

University of Zimbabwe Registrar Dr Munyaradzi Madambi said integrity committees kill the perception that universities are corrupt.

“I would like to express my gratitude to ZACC for causing this and encouraging universities to establish integrity committees in an effort to stop lecturers and the management from engaging in unethical behaviour with their students.

“We used to have integrity as the last value in our logo, but the President stated during one of our graduation ceremonies that integrity cannot be the last value because of all the other values, integrity is the bedrock of everything that one does,” he                                                                                    said.