Media key in exposing corruption in Zimbabwe

Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
TRANSPARENCY International Zimbabwe (TIZ) has said the media is key in exposing corruption, noting that there was a need for media practitioners to produce more of such stories to aid the country’s fight against the scourge.

TIZ is a non-profit, non-partisan, systems-oriented local chapter of the international movement against corruption, which believes that corruption can only be sufficiently tackled by all citizens including people at grassroots level. Its broad mandate is to fight corruption and related vices through networks of integrity in line with the Global Strategy.

In an interview after the one-day training workshop on Thursday in Bulawayo, TIZ research and legal officer, Ms Thubelihle Ncube said the focus of the training was to equip journalists with basic understanding of investigative journalism methods.

“We carried out a workshop on Investigative Journalism and Corruption in Zimbabwe here in Bulawayo. The discussions focused on equipping journalists with basic understanding of investigative journalism methods, approaches, and techniques that are practical and accessible to every broadcast, print or online journalists and consequently come up with partnership strategies in driving the anti-corruption agenda,” said Ms Ncube.

She said the purpose was also to try and get different media minds in the same room and try to understand the difficulties they face when it comes to investigative journalism.

“So, we were trying to trace and find out if there may be challenges they (media practitioners) are facing and what we as an organisation can do in assisting investigative journalism around Bulawayo. We were also looking at the issues around financial and resources support, capacity building and among others to see how best media houses or journalists can be helped in the regard,” she said.

She said moving forward they were hoping to be able to work with the media houses in the fight against corruption and exposing corruption related cases.

“Taking it from here, we want to ensure that by the end of the year, Bulawayo media practitioners should be able to produce investigative stories to the public as a way of curbing corruption in the city.”

Media practitioners present at the workshop said some of the challenges they face in reporting on corruption include lack of co-operation from some organisations. They said some were faced with lack of resources in newsrooms and lack of motivation to carry out investigative stories, while also intimidation by big corporates was a contributing factor.

However, various efforts are being done by the Government to curb rampant corruption with most issues flagged in the Auditor-General (AG)’s reports.

The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi recently revealed that progress has been done for the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Whistle blowers) Bill. The bill is before the Attorney General’s office for drafting. The Bill seeks to ensure the protection of all whistle blowers, both public and private sector employees.