Melinda Kusemachibi
After the Cabinet of Zimbabwe approved principles of the Public Interest Disclosure also known as Protection of Whistle Blowers Bill, 2022 which seeks to fight corruption by protecting genuine witnesses who raise issues of public interest, as presented by Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission ( ZACC) said they welcome the development.
Speaking to TellZim News, ZACC spokesperson, Commissioner John Makamure said the anti-graft organization welcomes the approval of the Bill.
“As ZACC, we welcome the approval of principles of two very important pieces of legislation witness protection and Whistle Blowers Protection Bill. The commission feels that this significant development is going to strengthen the anti-corruption drive.
“This is because current pieces of legislature such as the Prevention of Corruption Act are not comprehensive enough in terms of offering protection to our valuable witnesses and whistle blowers,” said Makamure.
He went on to say that as a commission, they have received several reports of witnesses being victimized, intimidated and fired at work.
“We have been receiving several reports of witnesses being victimized, intimidated or even fired from work and this has frustrated the anti-corruption drive in terms of availability of witnesses and whistle blowers to provide the necessary information that will aid our investigations and also witnesses who are prepared to appear before a court of law during prosecution of the accused.
“So we want to commend government for this. We want to commend cabinet for this very important decision. We also call upon cabinet to speed aligning the Anti-Corruption Commission Act with the constitution and other practices in the anti-corruption fight,” added Makamure.
He also said as a commission they submitted a lay bill so as they can provide a guide in the alignment process.
“As a commission we submitted a lay bill to the Ministry of Justice and Parliament of Zimbabwe so that we can provide a guide in this alignment process and for the whistle blowers and witnesses protection which urge the authorities to now speed up draft gazette and introduce the bill in parliament so that in the bills can be gazzeted into law as quickly as possible,” he said.
Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa announced the new developments during a post cabinet briefing held on March 29.
Currently the country does not have a legislation that provides for the protection of individuals that point out against illicit activities within organizations they are employed in therefore this bill serves to protect, bridge the gap affecting the fight against corruption and exposing whistle blowers to retaliation.
The Bill will seek among other provisions to provide for mainly protection of whistle blowers by prohibiting detrimental treatment of any whistle blower by reason of his or her whistle blowing, a framework within which public interest disclosures shall be dealt with and disclosures of conduct averse to public interest in the public and private sectors.
