Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) chairperson Michael Reza has dismissed allegations that the anti-graft body targets individuals for political reasons or operates on behalf of powerful interests.
Speaking in Harare, Reza said reports that ZACC officers were “for hire” or that arrest warrants were being circulated to businessmen or politicians were baseless.
“People need to be disabused from that notion that ZACC is an organisation with officers who are for hire. There are no officials at ZACC who are for hire,” he said.
Reza said the commission acts solely on evidence of wrongdoing regardless of a suspect’s political affiliation or professional standing.
“When a person commits a crime, it does not matter whether they are a senior civil servant or belong to any political party – if they have committed a crime, ZACC will follow that person,” he said.
He accused some suspects of trying to politicise corruption cases to shield themselves from accountability.
“We have a situation where people are trying to get by the back door what they cannot get by the front door. When they get arrested or investigated, they turn around and scream politics,” he said.
He added that Zimbabwe’s courts provided safeguards against wrongful arrests.
“If a person is arrested but has not committed a crime, they cannot be remanded because there has to be reasonable suspicion,” he said.
The ZACC chair urged citizens to bring forward cases where individuals were detained without cause, promising to investigate them.
“I want to assure the people of Zimbabwe that this misconception, that ZACC goes after people identified by certain persons as targets, is not true,” he said.
