The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has been losing highly skilled workers trained in investigating cases of corruption, especially cyber crimes.
The departure of skilled officers has made it harder to track down and deal with sophisticated criminals, The Herald reported quoting chair Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo.
She spoke to the publication in a wide-ranging interview on the sidelines of a ZACC strategic review workshop in Harare:
Initially, it was a skills challenge, but we then managed to recruit skilled personnel. But now it is about retaining skilled personnel, especially after training. We have been training our officers in crimes involving cyberspace.
With the advancement of technology, most of the crimes are now being committed with the use of technology so the Commission has been training officers along those lines.
After being trained they become marketable and are wanted in other sectors or countries. So this has been our major challenge of late.
We are also doing everything possible to encourage our officers to stay and we are teaching them that this is a national job. While we are advocating better salaries, we are also trying to inculcate the idea that they should also be inspired by the desire to see a better Zimbabwe.
The absence of legislation that protects whistleblowers and witnesses scares away potential witnesses or whistleblowers especially in high-profile cases where they can endanger their lives.
There are also cases of accused persons being acquitted because of witness fatigue and lack of witness protection. As you know currently we do not have a witness and whistleblower protection law in Zimbabwe. That in itself scares away possible witnesses or whistleblowers, especially in high-profile cases.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said they were in the process of enacting the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Whistle-blowers) Act to protect whistleblowers and witnesses.
Justice Matanda-Moyo said the catch-and-release conception of ZACC operations is also partly a product of a general or public misunderstanding of court processes.
She said when culprits are granted bail the public takes it as if they have been acquitted.