ZACC officers demand answers

Anti-Corruption Commission workers are demanding to know how the US$5,5 million extended to the commission by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in 2008 under the bank's quasi-fiscal operations was used.

The money, according to a memorandum of understanding entered between the commission and the central bank, was for staff housing.

But Zacc investigators and intelligence officers, who are at the core of the commission's business, argue that they never benefited from the US$5,5 million.
They are now demanding to know how that money was spent.

This comes at a time the embattled commission was last week ordered to pay its investigators and intelligence officers outstanding allowances and benefits to the tune of US$1,5 million following a bruising legal battle before an arbitrator.

The labour dispute between the commission and workers opened a Pandora's box that brought the spotlight on the questionable activities of the anti-graft body amid allegations of corruption and selfishness on the part of the commission.

A commission investigator who spoke on condition of anonymity said the workers were never concerned about the source of the money but they wanted to know how it was spent.

"As workers, we want to know where the money is, if it was not spent. If it was spent, we demand to know how it was used considering that we are all still lodging.

"We want to know who benefited from the US$5,5 million meant for housing," he said.

Another investigator said there was no politics in their labour concerns. He said the workers had written to various offices raising their grievances and nothing was done.

"Ours is purely politics of the stomach and not anything else. We have been complaining and people were ignoring us. We wrote letters to the chairperson of the commission Mr (Denford) Chirindo, to Home Affairs permanent secretary and many others without success. How can one survive with US$11 every month?"

In a recent interview with The Sunday Mail, ZACC chairperson Mr Chirindo confirmed that the money was received by the commission but said he was not in a position to comment on the whereabouts because he was not yet in office when the transactions were effected.

"We heard that US$5,5 million was meant for housing and they were also supposed to purchase houses for staff and so on. What we discovered is that this money from RBZ was signed for by the CEO and two general managers. That is the secretariat . . . All transactions were being done between the RBZ and the secretariat and not the commissioners," he said.

Mr Chirindo said at one time, some investigators broke down as they tried to explain the alleged improprieties surrounding the disbursement of the US$5,5 million.

"So you would find that there are allegations that the US$5,5 million was not properly disbursed and there are serious allegations, for example, there is one day when we met with the investigators and intelligence officers, who had taken the commission to court over unfulfilled conditions . . . I can tell you this, some of the investigators cried. They shed tears trying to explain some improprieties surrounding that," he said.

In the labour dispute, which the officers won, the 26 officers that were listed as applicants made shocking revelations that the powers that be at the commission were content to further their private and personal agendas at the expense of the welfare of the secretariat, some of whom took home as little as US$11 per month.

Arbitrator Mr Rodgers Matsikidze in his ruling, awarded each of the 26 officers between US$53 000 and US$62 000. The officers have since filed their application for registration of the award at the High Court. It is yet to be determined.