'Zacc free to probe MDC-T'

The opposition MDC has said the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) is free to investigate the party's council officials who might have engaged in corrupt activities.

Following reports that the country's corruption-busting body is investigating cases of irregular deals by the MDC-run Harare City Council, the party's spokesperson Obert Gutu told the Daily News yesterday that his party  welcomes the probe.

"The MDC has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption so we have got absolutely nothing to hide; no skeletons in our cupboards," Gutu said, adding that Zacc needs to be non-partisan.

"We stand for a non-partisan and professional anti-corruption drive. All corrupt persons, no matter who they are and or what public positions of authority they may hold, should be made to face the music".

In the last few years, there have been reports of corruption in various municipalities which the MDC apparently leads.

Zacc is investigating the manner  in which two companies, Energy Resources Africa Consortium and Sidal Engineers, won council's  $13,8 million tender for the rehabilitation of Firle Sewage Works  despite them being unregistered.

The MDC has been at the forefront calling for the arrest of Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo on allegations of pilfering of public funds in his ministry.

"The MDC has stated, times without number, that corruption, particularly in the public sector, is at the root of the political and socio-economic crisis that is presently bedevilling the nation," Gutu said in the aftermath of the allegations.

"For many a time, Zanu PF Cabinet ministers and other highly-placed bureaucrats in the civil service have brazenly stolen and or abused public funds and public resources such as farming inputs and machinery."