By Lungelo Ndhlovu
Zimbabweans are utilising the Citizen smartphone application, to report corruption and demand transparency and accountability in their communities as the country grapples with serious corruption scandals involving public officials, most recently the Gold Mafia uncovered by Al Jazeera.
In the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) evaluation conducted by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ), the country obtained a score of 23 out of 100, with a 100 score denoting a very clean public sector, and a 0 score denoting a severely corrupt one.
Despite the implementation of anti-corruption measures and policies under the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), Zimbabwe scores lower than regional Sub-Saharan Africa’s average of 32 out of 100, which the CPI index attributes to impunity, a lack of political will to deal with corruption, and a lack of coordination among anti-corruption agencies.
In March of this year, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) launched a mobile application called CitizenApp to promote accountability and transparent public resource management, according to John Maketo, ZIMCODD’s Programmes Manager.
“There has been a very good response and an uptake of CitizenApp. We now have over 580 users across the country, women, men, and youths. The reports coming in are already showing the utility value of the application,” Maketo told this reporter over a telephone interview.
How the CitizenApp Works
According to Maketo, the smartphone application receives reports regarding mismanagement of public resources, service delivery concerns, and corruption, “We launched the application on 16 March 2023. Cases reported so far range from corruption, public service delivery cases including issues of public interest.”
Maketo also stated that government agencies like the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) can investigate alleged crimes while citizens can report crimes on CitizenApp, and journalists can gather information for investigative stories.
Uyapo Majahana, a user who downloaded the app on their phone, said the system was good for citizens to report and speak out against corruption in their communities, as well as to hold the government and their local authorities accountable for the ongoing loss of public resources, which has resulted in some civilian deaths as service delivery has deteriorated.
“The CitizenApp is an excellent resource for reporting corruption in our communities. It features an anonymous component where you may report a problem and is linked to authorities such as law enforcement and journalists, making it an excellent tool for combating corruption. However, I believe that follow-up on reported concerns is weak, as are expensive mobile data charges for people to properly utilise this,” he said.
Challenges encountered by the app users
Menzeli Tshuma, one of the app’s users, stated the Citizen app does not work when one is not connected to the internet.
“Due to connectivity concerns, it is challenging for someone like me who lives in Ntabazinduna without internet access to report incidents of corruption through the application. I think ZIMCODD should introduce an offline function to this application to cater for everyone, even those in rural areas to be able to access it and report corruption,” he said.
CitizenApp faces various challenges despite its potential. The adoption rate of the application has been relatively slow, while the government asserts that it has implemented systems to address corruption. Commissioner Thandiwe Mlobane, the spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), says individuals wishing to report instances of corruption must follow designated channels such as walk-ins, dedicated WhatsApp numbers, and email.
Fighting corruption in Zimbabwe
According to Mlobane ZAAC is required to promote honesty, financial responsibility, and transparency by Sections 255 (c) and (h) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and Amendment 20, ACT of 2013, as well as by making recommendations to the government and other parties on how to strengthen integrity and accountability and prevent improper conduct and foster accountability in the public and private sectors.
ZACC claims it has worked with 157 organisations, including parastatals, colleges, rural district councils, banks, and other enterprises, to inform them of the benefits of establishing integrity committees as a means of battling corruption from within, according to Mlobane.
“Accordingly, ZACC is bringing the anti-corruption fight into institutions both in the public and private sectors through the introduction of Integrity Committees. Strong, effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions are the backbone for the achievement of Vision 2030 and the Agenda for Sustainable Development,” she said, over a telephone interview.
Mlobane added that such Integrity Committees should guarantee that each public organisation has a strong Complaints Handling Policy to ensure that all complaints from consumers, clients, and residents are handled swiftly and effectively within a fair time limit. “In addition, the Integrity Committee should ensure that there is a Whistleblower Protection Policy for staff grievances and reports. This will also reduce the level of complaints coming to ZACC. Only cases of criminality will be referred to ZACC and service delivery complaints dealt with internally.
“According to Section 255 (d) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, ZACC has “to receive and consider complaints from the public and to take such action regarding the complaints as it considers appropriate,” Mlobane added.
Addressing the Information gap
According to Ms. Thubelihle Ncube, TIZ research and legal officer, ensuring that the public has access to publicly available, timely, and useful information, including on public expenditures and resource allocation, is crucial in Zimbabwe’s anti-corruption campaign.
As a result, Ncube said her organization distributes newsletters detailing how they would have assisted various people with various corruption issues. “We publish a quarterly newsletter, the idea is just for us to document our work, and also to make ourselves more visible so that people know about us and the work that we do, and how we assist different people with different corruption issues.”
“Our Corruption Watch Newsletter documents everything that we do. We have another one that also focused on Land Administration and Corruption Issues. We then publish the books so that whenever we are doing community meetings we also distribute them to individuals so that those who don’t access our website get to read the books,” she said.
This story was produced in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch through the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.
