Graft a way of life in Zimbabwe, says report

Almost 70% of Zimbabweans surveyed for a graft report admitted to paying a bribe to get their hands on a passport - and 63% confessed to buying a birth certificate.

Corruption has become a way of life in Zimbabwe, according to a Transparency International report published last week.

"While there are legal frameworks that exist to fight corruption, the legal enforcers have not been doing much to deal [in particular] with grand forms of corruption," said Transparency International Zimbabwe executive director Muchaneta Mundopa.

"It should be emphasised, however, that the onus of curbing corruption should not only be on the legal enforcers but all the stakeholders in the anti-corruption value chain," said Mundopa.

"The pace of fighting corruption in Zimbabwe is very low and such limited efforts by individuals or institutions mandated to fight corruption are fuelling corruption."

On Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, Zimbabwe scored 24 points out of 100, with zero being highly corrupt and 100 being very clean.

The research was conducted in the second half of 2019 and had 1,680 respondents.

Mundopa said a combination of factors contribute to a culture of corruption in Zimbabwe, ranging from weak institutions of governance to poor economic performance.

The Transparency International report says bureaucratic corruption in Zimbabwe causes law enforcers to focus on petty corruption cases rather than probing wider and looking into politically connected people committing corruption.

Also, because so many of the people who are implicated in corruption are politically connected, it is difficult for law enforcers to work independently.

Referring to the more "petty" corruption cases, the report says that while business people and politicians used to be the main culprits, the culture of corruption has now filtered through to ordinary people.

According to the report, 52% of Zimbabweans have paid a bribe to a service provider at some point.

With a sinking economy and many desperate to leave for greener pastures, the report says about 69% of the focus sample paid a bribe to access a passport and 63% paid to obtain a birth certificate.

Transparency International said law enforcement agents often initiated bribe transactions.

"Eighty-six percent of the respondents stated that they had been asked for a bribe when seeking assistance from law enforcers," says the report.

The corruption statistics show up the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, which has been focused on fighting graft at political level - but has made no meaningful arrests.

Zimbabwe Democracy Institute director Pedzisai Ruhanya said corruption is deeply entrenched in state institutions, so much so that it compromises the legitimacy of the state.

"Government is involved in these networks that are milking the state, we
have rot in the executive and it's difficult to hold those in power accountable," said Ruhanya.

" There's an urgent need for an overhaul in the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, the police, judiciary, National Prosecuting Authority and the executive itself."