Whistleblowers suffer victimisation—ZACC

Staff Reporter

Harare—The former Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) chairperson, Loyce Matanda-Moyo, has revealed that witnesses and whistleblowers contributing information for criminal prosecution are being victimised by implicated parties.

This is contained in the commission’s annual report for 2022.

“For the past years, the commission has observed the victimisation of witnesses before, during, and after the commencement of trial,” noted Matanda-Moyo, who was recently appointed the prosecutor-general.

“This (victimisation) was derailing the fight as citizens were no longer confident enough to come forward to report or testify without adequate protection,” added the former ZACC chair under whose tenure the report was produced.

Currently, Zimbabwe does not have any legislation that specifically protects whistleblowers.

In March, cabinet approved the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Whistleblowers) Bill that seeks to protect individuals that provide information regarding illicit activities within the organisations they are employed in.

A related bill, the Witness Protection Bill, is also underway.

“These two bills are crucial to the fight against corruption, as they are expected to improve public confidence in the fight against corruption,” added the prosecutor-general.

If the bills become law, this would be in sync with the SADC Protocol against Corruption, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Crime (AUCPCC) and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.