Corruption remains very high in Zimbabwe - index

Perceived levels of corruption in Zimbabwe remain high, according to the 2013 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), released on Tuesday.

Published by the global organisation Transparency International (TI), it ranks South Africa 152nd out of 177 countries, with a score of 21.

The CPI measures perceived levels of public sector corruption, ranking countries on a scale from 0 to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

The 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index, by Transparency International, ranks Zimbabwe at 163 out of 174 countries surveyed - with number 174, Somalia, perceived as the most corrupt.

Zimbabwe's position on the index was 154 in 2011.

Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) said in December 2012, "Corruption amounts to a dirty tax, and the poor and most vulnerable are its primary victims, especially [those in] the rural and marginalized communities."

TIZ said corruption was particularly rampant within the education, health, mining, sports, judicial and agriculture sectors and was becoming ingrained within the society.

According to TI's website, all but five countries in the sub-Saharan region scored in the lower half of the 2013 global survey - measurements not fundamentally different to the year before.

"While [this] may give the impression of little progress, it is important to highlight that over the years, some governments have registered tangible results in relation to curbing corruption.

"In countries [such as] Cape Verde, Mauritius, Rwanda, Botswana, and Seychelles, citizens have increasingly enjoyed daily lives with limited corruption, particularly in the administration and delivery of basic services."

Zimbabwe lost approximately $2 billion to corruption last year, tax collector Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) said.

Gershom Pasi, Zimra's commissioner-general, recently said according to Professor Deon Rossouw of TI, a total $6 billion was corruptly earned in Africa.

"Nigeria was corruptly involved at $3 billion, while Zimbabwe was at $2 billion and South Africa was at $0,7 billion," he told a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) symposium on business ethics,  anti-bribery and corruption.

Pasi said corruption in Zimbabwe had reached unprecedented levels and government could not take the fight alone.

"Government needs partnership with the private sector and the society at large. There will be synergies that accrue when the public sector and the private sector join hands," he said, adding that the "fight against corruption should be grounded in the doctrine and philosophy of ubuntu, a concept whose foundation was based on sound human relations in African societies".

"It is a deep-rooted African philosophy that carries high values of caring, sharing, inclusivity, compassion, and communalism," he said.