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Biti’s Law firm, Tendai Biti Law Chambers and Veritas have expressed issues that they expect to be addressed by the law that will be enacted by the government in the next 3 months.
This move came in after the High Court Justice Jacob Manzunzu, granted a judgement forcing the government to come up with a law comprehensively dealing with corruption including asset disclosure and term limits for Special Operational Executive heads (SOE).
Tendai Biti Law Chambers had filed court application on behalf of Legislator Allan Norman Markham compelling the government to pass a law that deals with corruption.
“So we are pleased to report that the High Court of Zimbabwe has issued a judgement ordering the government to come up with this law in the next 3 months and we hope that the government will enact this law that fights corruption that holds public officials, government ministers, parastatals, members of parliament, anyone who benefits from public funds to be accountable, local authority officials to be accountable we expect this law to do the following.
“To define the high expectations particularly on financial accountability and fiscal prudence, often times one joins public service with one goat by the time he leaves public service he owns four hundred heard of cattle and there is no explanation as to why and where you would have gotten those resources.
“This law to empower the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) with capacity to conduct life style audit as to why you are building a house on the hill in Chishawasha Hills when you have not been paying any taxes and when you are just a civil servant, we expect this law to ask a public servant to explain why his garage is full of SUV’s when his salary can afford a Honda Fit or a Toyota Wish.
“We expect this law to deal with the issue of ethics, things such as non-disclosure things such as respect of Institution nowadays those values have gone.
“We expect this law to come up with terms of office Chief Executive Office, now everyone has term limit the President has two terms of office even the Commander of Security Forces have term limits, Speaker of Parliament, Chairpersons of Commissions have got term limits but CEO’s have got blank cheques and they end up been the little emperors in those bodies so we expect this law to be enacted.
“The government at the present moment has a shortage of draftsman and Veritas has got some of the country’s leading drafters as well including in particular Brian ‘Crozier so we hope that they will draft the bill and give it to the Attorney General so that he can comply with the judgement of Justice Manzunzu,” said Biti.
He added that unlike in other cases government was given short space of time to enact the law meaning the court appreciates the seriousness of corruption in Zimbabwe.
“Government was given three months, three months is a very short space of time it’s basically 90 days, in some of the cases that we won and we were working with Veritas, is a case brought by Makomborero Haruzivishe to force the government to enact the complaints mechanism against security forces the government was given six months but here the government was given three months and I think its because the courts appreciates the seriousness of corruption.”
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