Emmanuel Chitsika
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has once again reiterated its commitment to fighting corruption which the authority says is a non-tariff barrier that downgrades Zimbabwean products competitiveness on the international market while at the same time eroding investor confidence in the country.
Addressing journalists at Chevron Hotel in Masvingo last week, ZIMRA Corporate Affairs Director Gladman Njanji (speaking on behalf of Commissioner General Regina Chinamasa) urged the media to help the ‘taxman’ by joining the fight against corruption.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I call upon each and every one of us not only to shun corruption but to use our positions in the media to highlight, condemn and write about corruption. Corruption is one of the biggest non-tariff barriers that makes our (Zimbabwean) products non-competitive on the international market and erodes investor confidence.
“Zimra has put in place several measures to fight corruption which among them include whistleblower facility, anti-corruption hotline as well as disciplining non-compliant staff in accordance with the laws of the land and the authority’s code of conduct, asset declarations and other means of justifying any cases of unjust enrichment as a way of curbing corruption. We have done this asset declaration on a number of occasions and we are not going to stop as we aim to ensure our members of staff live within their means otherwise we end up having a scenario that erode the trust that we want to maintain,” said Njanji.
He also urged the media to continue working in partnership with the authority in the fight against graft.
“Currently we have been running a campaign where we engage various stakeholders in the fight against corruption and fortunately quite a number of media practitioners participated on the launch. May the media continue supporting us and let us use this partnership to our advantage, join hands and build our nation together while at the same time continuing with the networking even after this event,” added Njanji.
He also urged the media to disseminate information that help the general public to understand how tax systems operate and their importance towards national development.
“This engagement is considered of utmost importance in terms of generating constructive debate and exchanging ideas on issues affecting both ZIMRA and the media fraternity. We openly admit the role of the media in setting public agendas and even in sustaining them over periods of time. As a revenue administration, we rely on your strategic placement within society to disseminate information about importance of tax payment in terms of sustainable development of our nation.
“At the same time, you as media require our input as you generate stories which touch on tax policy pronouncement and how they impart on livelihoods and general economic performances. As such, this engagement presents an opportunity for us to discuss, introspect and reflect as well as finding areas we can leverage on for the very performance of our operations through sharing of relevant information on taxation and customs,” he added.
The engagement meeting was being run under the theme-‘ZIMRA transformation-The past, present and future’.
