62 COMPLAINTS ON RAMPANT CORRUPTION

LOBAMBA – In eight months, the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) received 62 complaints.

These are complaints received from April to December 2018. According to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Annual Performance Report for 2018/2019, there were 10 newly-opened investigations into alleged corruption, increasing the total number of investigated cases to 310. Two cases have been referred to other agencies. It is stated in the report that the delay in the filling of the commissioner’s position, including that of the deputy commissioner operations, had an effect in spearheading the investigations. This is due to the fact that the commissioner, in terms of the law, is the one who is being empowered to authorise the investigation.

It is also stated in the report that the ACC was allocated a budget of E21.6 million, and the total sum of money that was released by close of the third quarter was E19 million.
The ministry reports that the commission used E15.7 million, leaving a variance of E3.1 million. Released budget for personal costs stood at E14.1 million by the close of the third quarter.

On the other hand, the Human Rights Commission received 45 complaints. There were seven investigations done on the commissioner’s own accord, and 11 cases were referred to other agencies, while 10 complaints were investigated, finalised and closed. The Human Rights Commission reported that 12 complaints were pending. Most of the complaints were related to the right to fair hearing, access to justice and deprivation of property (predominately land). “Most of the complaints are those who cannot afford services of an attorney or have not been getting the necessary assistance from their attorney,” it is stated in the report.

It is reported that the cases sometimes fall outside the jurisdiction of the commission or it does not have the comparative advantage in dealing with the nature of that case. “Where necessary, the commission will give the client appropriate legal advice or refer them to an agency or institution with the comparative advantage on the matter,” reads the report. The commission acknowledged that access to legal services was key to the promotion of human rights, and urged members of the public to use its free services whenever they witnessed or experienced violations.  It recommended that there be interventions to strengthen the criminal justice stakeholder forum in order to identify bottlenecks in the justice system and come up with solutions to improve same.

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