Brenna Matendere
Harare—Corruption in Zimbabwe’s public sector is worsening, according to the latest perception survey by Transparency International (TI).
The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released on Tuesday, 11 February at the TI headquarters in Berlin, Germany, covers 2024 and shows that Zimbabwe has slumped by three points from last year.
In Africa, the index has ranked Seychelles, Cabo Verde, Botswana and Rwanda as the best performers, while Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Somalia and South Sudan were the worst.
The CPI is a leading global indicator of public sector corruption that reflects an annual comparative snapshot of 180 countries.
Down the slope
Zimbabwe has scored poorly on global corruption indices for decades
The latest figures released today show that Zimbabwe dropped from 24/100 to 21/100. The figures are measured on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
The CPI also shows that Zimbabwe is now ranked 158 out of 180 countries whose corruption levels were measured, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.
In 2023, Zimbabwe ranked 149th among the 180 countries in the index meaning last year the corruption was ranked higher., with the southern African countries slipping nine steps down the slope.
A member of the parliamentary portfolio committee on public accounts, Edwin Mushoriwa who is also the member of parliament for Dzivarasekwa in Harare, told News Hub that TI’s latest index was an indictment on Zimbabwe.
“The downgrading of Zimbabwe from 24 out of 100 to 21 out 100 is an indictment on us as the people of Zimbabwe. There is no doubt corruption levels are going up and, more often, corruption is being celebrated at the expense of ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe. There is no political will to deal with grand corruption,” he said.
Obert Chinhamo, director of Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) says the corruption scourge in Zimbabwe is slowly getting out of hand and needs urgent action to address it.
“The worsening corruption situation is worrying. Slipping three points on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) from 24/100 to 21/100 is an actually understatement.
“We find ourselves in this corruption-ridden environment due to the selective enforcement of anti-corruption laws and policy frameworks, as well as the severely compromised nature of anti-corruption institutions. The full force of the law is felt primarily by those who are less connected. It’s a rotten country,” he said.
Growing scourge
In separate press releases from Berlin, TIZ top officials slammed the growing vice of corruption.
Maíra Martini, the TI chief executive officer, said urgent action is needed worldwide to root out corruption that comes through theft, misuse of funds and undue influence.
She urged stronger measures strengthening accountability in climate change responses.
“Governments and multilateral organisations must embed anti-corruption measures in climate efforts to protect funding and rebuild trust. Only by tackling corruption head-on can we unlock the full power of climate action and accelerate the fight for our planet’s future,” said Martin.
François Valérian, the TI chair, said corruption is an evolving global threat that does far more than undermine development.
“It is a key cause of declining democracy, instability and human rights violations. The international community and every nation must make tackling corruption a top and long-term priority.
“This is crucial to pushing back against authoritarianism and securing a peaceful, free and sustainable world. The dangerous trends revealed in this year’s Corruption perception indices highlight the need to follow through with concrete action now to address global corruption,” he said.
Speaking at a financial and asset recovery workshop in May last year, Prosecutor General Loice Matanda Moyo said Zimbabwe was losing US$1.8 billion annually to corruption.
In recent years, Zimbabwe has witnessed high-level corruption scandals involving cartels that enjoy close ties to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the political elite.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was in 2024 implicated in a US$100 million scandal whereby a close associate of Mnangagwa and briefcase businessman, Wicknell Chivayo, worked with a South Africa-based company, Ren-Form CC and a local outfit, Better Brands Security (Pvt) Ltd, to inflate prices of voting materials.
Better Brands is owned by Pedzisayi Scott Sakupwanya who is also a close associate of President Mnangagwa and Chivayo.
A media investigation revealed that ZEC paid US$1.2 million for a server that actually costs US$4,000.
There was also supply of 2,000 non-flushable toilets on the eve of the August 2023 elections at a cost of US$7.6 million.
The toilets, priced at an astronomical US$3,800 per unit when they retail for about US$300 in South Africa, were only delivered in April last year, eight months after the elections.
ZEC also splurged US$5 million on gadgets to display voting returns for the August 2023 elections, but those devices, bought at inflated prices, were only delivered months after the polls.
Sakupwanya was last year implicated in Al Jazeera’s Gold Mafia series as an actor in the illicit exportation of the precious mineral and money laundering.
The series also fingered Mnangagwa, his wife Auxillia, a niece Henrietta Rushwaya and the president’s advisor and self-proclaimed prophet, Uebert Angel, alongside senior executives and international barons, among protagonists in the cross-border gold racket.
Recently, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga publicly acknowledged that corruption was rampant in Zimbabwe at the burial of a national hero in Harare.
But sceptics insist that Chiwenga is also corrupt, having been exposed for receiving unexplained gifts from a controversial businessman and perceived tenderpreneur, Kuda Tagwirei, and for failing to explain the army’s reported role in the looting of diamonds during his tenure as defence forces commander.
Besides reportedly owning some diamond claims in Marange, the army partnered with a Chinese outfit, Anhui, to mine industrial diamonds in the area through Anjin Investments.
Court records during divorce proceedings involving his ex-wife, Jocelyn Mauchaza, revealed that Chiwenga enjoys a vast empire of businesses and assets.
Mnangagwa’s co-vice president, Kembo Mohadi, has in the past also been named in dubious mining activities.