corruption in Zimbabwe

The findings of a 2000 survey commissioned by Transparency International Zimbabwe found that Zimbabwean citizens regarded the public sector as the most corrupt sector in the country. In this survey respondents favoured the police as being most corrupt followed by political parties, parliament/legislature, public officials/civil servants and the judiciary.{{cite web|url=http://archive.kubatana.net/docs/demgg/ti_public_opinion_corruption_zw_111117.pdf|title=Daily Lives and Corruption: Public Opinion in Zimbabwe|author=Deborah Hardoon with Finn Heinrich|date=2011|publisher=Transparency International}} In 2008, a Transparency International director announced that Zimbabwe loses US$5 million to corruption every day.{{cite web| url=http://report.globalintegrity.org/Zimbabwe/2008/notebook| title=2008 Assessment: Reporter's Notebook: Zimbabwe| author=Njabulo Ncube| publisher=Global Integrity| date=2008| access-date=2012-04-25| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715142551/http://report.globalintegrity.org/Zimbabwe/2008/notebook| archive-date=2012-07-15| url-status=dead}}

On Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Zimbabwe scored 21 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Zimbabwe ranked 158th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.{{Cite web |title=The ABCs of the CPI: How the Corruption Perceptions Index is calculated |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/news/how-cpi-scores-are-calculated |date=11 February 2025 |access-date=23 February 2025 |website=Transparency.org|language=en}} For comparison with regional scores, the average score among sub-Saharan African countries {{refn| Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.|group="Note"}} was 33. The best score in sub-Saharan Africa was 72 and the worst score was 8.{{Cite web |title=CPI 2024 for Sub-Saharan Africa: Weak anti-corruption measures undermine climate action |last=Banoba |first=Paul |last2=Mwanyumba |first2=Robert |last3=Kaninda |first3=Samuel |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2024-sub-saharan-africa-weak-anti-corruption-measures-undermine-climate-action |date=11 February 2025 |access-date=23 February 2025 |website=Transparency.org |language=en}} For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).{{Cite web |title=Corruption Perceptions Index 2024: Zimbabwe |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024/index/zwe |access-date=23 February 2025 |website=Transparency.org |language=en}}

In 2011, Finance Minister Tendai Biti claimed that at least US$1 billion in diamond-related revenue owed to the national treasury remains unaccounted for. Biti has blamed corruption, misappropriation and a lack of transparency for the systematic underselling of diamonds and the failure to recoup losses.{{cite web| url=http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/national-report/9417-diamonds-worth-us1bn-missing.html| title=Diamonds worth US$1bn missing| author=Clemence Manyukwe| publisher=The Financial Gazette| date=12 August 2011| access-date=25 April 2012| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120731094003/http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/national-report/9417-diamonds-worth-us1bn-missing.html| archive-date=31 July 2012| url-status=dead}} In an address to parliament, Biti said “it is worrying that there is no connection whatsoever between diamond exports made by Zimbabwe and the revenues realised thereof”.{{cite web| url=http://www.nyddc.com/zimbabwe-finance-minister-says-diamond-export-and-revenue-figures-do-not-add-up.aspx| title=Zimbabwe Finance Minister says diamond export and revenue figures do not add up| author=Diamond Dealers Club New York| publisher=Diamond Dealers Club New York| date=27 July 2011| access-date=25 April 2012| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907121414/http://www.nyddc.com/zimbabwe-finance-minister-says-diamond-export-and-revenue-figures-do-not-add-up.aspx| archive-date=7 September 2012| url-status=dead}}

President Robert Mugabe and his politburo have also come under criticism for making personal benefits by assigning lucrative concessions in the Marange diamond fields to Chinese firms and the Zimbabwean military.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} The Zimbabwean military, which oversees the Marange fields, has been accused of systematic human rights abuses and smuggling of diamonds to neighbouring Mozambique.{{cite web| url=http://www.globalintegrity.org/report/Zimbabwe/2011/notebook| title=Global Integrity Report: Zimbabwe Notebook 2011| author=Njabulo Ncube| publisher=Global Integrity| date=2011| access-date=2012-04-25| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508090847/http://www.globalintegrity.org/report/Zimbabwe/2011/notebook| archive-date=2013-05-08| url-status=dead}}

In January 2000, Fallot Chawaua, the Master of Ceremonies of a promotional lottery organised by the Zimbabwe Banking Corporation, announced that Robert Mugabe won the Z$100,000 first prize jackpot.{{cite book | title=Why Nations Fail | publisher=Crown Publishers | author=Acemoglu, Daron | year=2011 | location=New York | pages=[https://archive.org/details/whynationsfailor00acem/page/368 368] | isbn=978-0-307-71921-8 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/whynationsfailor00acem/page/368 }}{{cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/621895.stm | title=Mugabe hits the jackpot | publisher=BBC | date=28 January 2000 | access-date=16 August 2013}} The lottery was open to all clients who had kept Z$5,000 or more in their ZimBank accounts.

In March 2008, President Mugabe formally approved the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill, which gave the government the right to seize a controlling 51% stake in foreign and white-owned businesses.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7286513.stm| title=Mugabe approve new ownership law | author=BBC News| publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)| date=9 March 2008}} There are wide concerns that the beneficiaries of this Bill will be members of the ruling Zimbabwean elite, particularly after the enforcement of the Land Acquisition Act of 1992 and the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme Phase 2 of 1998 led to the misappropriation of commercial farm land and violent land invasions.{{cite web| url=http://www.hlsp.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=pTubyMeHSxk%3d&tabid=1791&mid=3720| title=States in Development: State Building and Service Delivery; Final Report| author=Jack Eldon and Derek Gunby| publisher=HLSP| date=April 2009}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=http://www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/4234/Polls,_leaks_and_expropriations | title=Polls, leaks and expropriations | author=Africa Confidential| publisher=Africa Confidential| date=18 November 2011}}

Anti-corruption efforts in Zimbabwe are governed by the following legislation:

• The Prevention of Corruption Act (1983);
• Public Service Act (1995);
• The Ombudsperson Amendment Act (1997);
• Anti-Corruption Commission Bill (2004);
• The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (2004);
• Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Act (2004);
• Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Act (2004); and
• Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act of 2006

The Zimbabwean Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was established after the passing of the Anti-Corruption Commission Bill in June 2004.

The Commission is a signatory to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Protocol as well as the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Convention on Anti-Corruption. However, according to a 2009 report by Global Integrity, the Commission is highly inefficient and “has very little authority to take steps aimed at stopping corruption in Zimbabwe”.{{cite web| url=http://indabaplatform.com/ids/widgets/vcardDisplayIndicators.html?horseId=656&includeLogo=1&version=1&frameId=frame1&helper=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalintegrity.org%2Findaba_widget_helper.html&subcatId=79| title=Zimbabwe – Scorecard 2011: Anti-Corruption Agency or Equivalent Mechanisms| author=Global Integrity| publisher=Global Integrity| date=2011| access-date=25 April 2012| archive-date=19 April 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419205523/https://indabaplatform.com/ids/widgets/vcardDisplayIndicators.html?horseId=656&includeLogo=1&version=1&frameId=frame1&helper=http://www.globalintegrity.org/indaba_widget_helper.html&subcatId=79| url-status=dead}} Out of 147 corruption cases reviewed by the Commission in 2006, only four were completed. The ACC is currently chaired by Denfor Chirindo, who was appointed on 1 September 2011.{{cite web|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201109021275.html | title=Zimbabwe: Anti-Corruption Commission Sworn in | author= Lance Guma | publisher=PUBLISHER| date=2 September 2011}}

Here is a list of reported corruption scandals in Zimbabwe since 1980:

• 1987 – Zisco Steel blast Furnace Scandal
• 1987 – Air Zimbabwe Fokker Plane Scandal – $100 million
• 1986 – National Railways Housing Scandal
• 1988 – Willowgate Scandal
• 1989 – ZRP Santana Scandal
• 1994 – War Victims Compensation Scandal
• 1995 – GMB Grain Scandal
• 1996 – VIP Housing Scandal
• 1998 – Boka Banking Scandal
• 1998 – ZESA YTL Soltran Scandal
• 1998 – Telecel Scandal
• 1998 – Harare City Council Refuse Tender Scandal
• 1999 – Housing Loan Scandal
• 1999 – Noczim Scandal
• 1999 – DRC timber and diamond Un reported scandals
• 1999 – GMB Scandal
• 1999 – Ministry of water and rural development Chinese tender scandal
• 1999 – VIP Land Grab Scandal
• 2001 – Harare Airport Scandal
• 2008-2014 - Airport Road Scandal
• 2016 - Mnangagwa Command Agriculture Scandal
• 2018 - Zesa scam Involving Samuel Undenge's criminal abuse of office {{Cite web|url=https://www.newsday.co.zw/2018/05/mnangagwa-named-in-zesa-scam/|title=Mnangagwa named in Zesa scam|date=16 May 2018}}

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Zimbabwe

Category:Politics of Zimbabwe

Category:Law of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Category:Crime in Zimbabwe

Category:Economy of Zimbabwe

Category:Government of Zimbabwe

Category:Society of Zimbabwe