ZACC Loses Credibility as Government Sets Up New Investigations Committee

Highly Compromised, Declared Garwe

By Shingirai Vambe

For years, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has been the face of the country’s official fight against graft, paraded as the watchdog meant to cleanse state institutions of rot. Yet, behind the official statements, billboard campaigns, and annual budget allocations, the commission has built a reputation not of success but of failure — a body seen by many Zimbabweans as incompetent, politically compromised, and incapable of delivering justice.

Citizens have watched case after case collapse. High-profile arrests that once made headlines ended in silence, with suspects walking free or quietly reintegrated into public life. Analysts have described ZACC as an institution designed to “catch and release,” a revolving door of suspects who rarely face trial and, in fewer cases, conviction.

Repeated attempts by journalists, civil society actors, and independent legal experts to extract answers from ZACC have been met with stonewalling, vague responses, or outright refusal to comment. The commission’s track record has deepened public mistrust, with many now convinced that ZACC is less an anti-graft body than a political tool, one used to settle internal scores while shielding those aligned with power.

Despite its failures, ZACC continues to receive significant government funding, its offices flooded with corruption complaints that seldom find closure. Even more troubling, critics argue, is the commission’s selective handling of cases: low-level suspects and petty officials paraded for publicity, while high-level cases are quietly swept under the carpet.

Now, in a rare departure from government’s usual public defense of its own institutions, Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe has openly admitted what many Zimbabweans have long suspected: ZACC is highly compromised.

Speaking this week, Garwe revealed that corruption in local authorities has reached alarming levels, with procurement and tender processes at the center of the rot.

The Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) is said to be complicit in many of these shady dealings, suggesting systemic collusion between regulators and corrupt officials.

Frustrated by ZACC’s inability, or unwillingness, to act decisively, Garwe announced the creation of a new investigations committee under his ministry, effectively sidelining the anti-corruption commission. The committee, to be chaired by his permanent secretary, John Basera, will reportedly focus on “problem-specific” cases.

“What is happening in Hurungwe is different from what is happening in Beitbridge. You can’t lump them together,” Garwe said. “We are going to put in place an investigation team which will be problem-specific.”

The minister went further, leveling scathing accusations against the commission, alleging that its processes were being manipulated for personal and political ends.

“Notorious people in our midst are now going to ZACC or to ZRP to report. When somebody’s reported, they’re automatically suspended and that person is called to close. We don’t want that kind of life,” he warned.

Garwe’s remarks amount to an extraordinary rebuke of ZACC, an institution whose commissioners are appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself. For a minister, also a presidential appointee, to cast public doubt on ZACC’s credibility signals a deeper crisis of confidence at the highest levels of government.

Independent observers note that this public acknowledgement of ZACC’s failures confirms what has long been whispered: the anti-corruption body is not fit for purpose and requires a complete overhaul if Zimbabwe is serious about combating graft.

Over the years, corruption has hollowed out municipalities, drained national coffers, and eroded public services. Yet accountability has remained elusive. As one legal analyst noted, “ZACC has become a theatre, loud in announcements, silent in delivery.”

The formation of Garwe’s committee raises important questions. If ZACC, the constitutionally mandated body, cannot deliver, what legitimacy will a ministerial committee hold? Will it genuinely investigate wrongdoing in municipalities, or will it simply replicate the failures of the past under a different name?

For ordinary Zimbabweans, the announcement may bring little comfort. Corruption has become the oxygen of governance, cutting across procurement, land allocation, and local authority management. Citizens have learned to expect little in terms of justice, resigned to the knowledge that institutions are often more loyal to political masters than to the law.

Still, Garwe’s candid admission is significant. By calling out ZACC as compromised, he has pulled back the veil on an institution many already consider toothless. His move might signal growing tensions within government ranks over the management of corruption cases, or it may be the beginning of a larger battle over who controls the anti-corruption narrative.

The Vice President, CGDN Chiwenga is on record, speaking against corruption and those with close links to the executive accused of abusing their proximity to power by engaging in unspeakable corrupt deals

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