The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission says some court rules are hampering the progress of cases, especially involving senior political figures hence the need for an urgent review.
There has been an outcry over the delay in solving corruption cases involving high-level politicians whom most believe are shielded by gaps within the court laws.
ZACC spokesperson, John Makamure said his commission is calling for a timeframe that will see cases being solved within that period.
He said National Prosecuting Authority is delaying processing some cases which puts a hold on how the issues must be proceeding.
“ZACC refers all completed investigations for the prosecution to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Once ZACC has investigated the matters and referred them to the NPA for prosecution – that is the end of ZACC functions.
“However, ZACC has taken an interest in how the NPA prosecutes its matters and has been sitting in all prosecution cases to witness such proceedings in court. For the year 2020 the Commission referred ninety (90) cases to the NPA,” Makamure said.
During the year under review, ZACC said, twenty-six (26) cases were undergoing trial, nineteen (19) were allocated dates and forty-five (45) were still in the set down the office.
“However, our worry is the lack of completion of these trials due to the delays in the court process,” Makamure further stated.
He noted that the high ZACC high-level committee which set last month resolved that the court rules should be reviewed to prioritise the prosecution of corruption cases.
“We want to introduce specific timeframes on prosecution and finalisation of corruption, to say, trial and finalisation of a corruption case should not go beyond a certain period. As we speak, the request is receiving due attention and consideration by the authorities,” he noted.
Furthermore, Makamure stated that most of the corruption cases had been delayed because the suspects were continually submitting applications at the courts in the guise of exercising constitutional rights to deliberately avoid trial.
“Lawyers are submitting frivolous applications before the court just to delay the trial in court,” Makamure said.
“Zacc has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). The MoU ensures that the two institutions (Zacc and NPA) work in liaison on cases that would have been submitted by Zacc to facilitate their speedy processing in criminal justice,” Makamure added.
