Posted by By Lance Guma
02 March 2010
The MDC led by founding President Morgan Tsvangirai has requested all of its elected or appointed officials to declare their assets ‘in and outside Zimbabwe’ every year with a ‘known’ legal firm. The requirement is part of a new anti-corruption code of ethics.
A statement from the party said the code will ‘guide all party officials in their day-to-day operations, including upholding the party’s values, and guard them against any form of misgovernance.’ Officials from Ward level right up to the top leadership, including Prime Minister Tsvangirai are expected to comply.
The code was developed in response to rampant corruption in Chitungwiza involving both MDC councillors and ZANU PF officials in the city. Even before the coalition government, ZANU PF officials with the blessings of the Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo looted council land and subdivided it into residential stands. Chombo himself got a stand to build a hotel in the city.
MDC councillors who won elections in 2008 quickly joined in the looting and corruptly allocated the same stands without following council procedures. The MDC took drastic measures and sacked all 23 councillors implicated including the Mayor Israel Marange. Minister Chombo however refused to sack the councillors claiming the matter was an internal MDC dispute.
The MDC believe its ‘Real Change Code of Ethics and Values’ will discourage any form of corruption and abuse of office by its office bearers.
‘This code shall apply to all elected, appointed or deployed officials of the MDC serving in the Party, Government, local authorities, any institution receiving public funds, parastatals, voluntary associations and any other public or private body howsoever defined,’ the code read in part.
The party believes the code is the first of its kind to be crafted and implemented by a political party in Southern Africa. Meanwhile the MDC also says it has established an ‘independent investigations commission’ to probe any allegations of corruption brought against party officials. Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Newsreel they did not expect ‘angels and saints’ in the party, but had set certain benchmarks that needed to be met.
