THE source of Zimbabwe’s economic woes are cartels which dominate every sector of the country’s economy, the Prosecutor General, Kumbirai Hodzi has said.
Hodzi was addressing members of the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) at a workshop on Capacity Building on Anti-Corruption in Bulawayo Monday.
The head of the National Prosecuting Authority said the cartels were choking the country’s economy and those involved had connections with people in high offices in government.
“What we have in Zimbabwe is the problem of cartels who affect every sector of the society. We have got sections in the judiciary, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the National Prosecutors Authority and even from the Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission (ZACC) who are controlled by cartels and manipulate investigations and this is pulling the country’s economy down,” said Hodzi.
“Manifestations of corruption are all around us. When you trace the reasons behind serious shortages of fuel, medicine and electricity that the country is experiencing at the moment, they all lead back to corruption by these cartels,” he added.
Hodzi said the country had no proper channels to fight the ‘vampire’ called corruption and there is need for the formation of an anti-corruption agency similar to China’s where those found guilty of corruption receive heavy forms of punishment.
“We have been groping in the dark, we have been doing things the bad way in Zimbabwe hence the frustrations.
“We will fight corruption with all that we have. Failure is not an option and we are going double our efforts in making sure that we defeat it,” Hodzi added. – Newzim
