The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commision (ZACC) and the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) have been dragged to court by a socio-economic campaigner, Munashe Masiyiwa, who is seeking justice over an opaque land acquisition transaction, done by the State-run pension fund more than 20 years ago.
Masiyiwa, who is represented by lawyer Obey Shava from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), wants ZACC to immediately probe the land deal which he described as "opaque".
Masiyiwa has filed at Harare High Court citing ZACC and NSSA as respondents.
He said he only learnt about this issue while perusing the Auditor-General's annual report for 2023 on State-Owned Enterprises and Parastatals.
He noted that NSSA had in 2003 purchased a property in Chegutu in Mashonaland West province as part of its fund investments under some murky circumstances, which transaction he wants ZACC to investigate as part of its constitutional mandate.
According to Masiyiwa, the Auditor-General's annual report, revealed that NSSA had not recovered 526 hectares of land purchased in Chegutu in 2003.
"The socio-economic justice campaigner protested that NSSA neither responded nor initiated investigations as he had demanded in his letter written to the state-run pension fund on 25 July 2024, where he asked it to investigate the circumstances surrounding the purchase of 526 hectares of land in Chegutu in 2003, which land has not yet been recovered by NSSA," said ZLHR.
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This prompted him to approach the High Court requesting for an order directing ZACC to investigate matters of public interest and take remedial action where necessary, to investigate the circumstances pertaining to the purchase of the land by NSSA, which he described as a delinquent institution, and make its findings public.
Masiyiwa said ZACC's inaction in the face of reasonable suspicion of corruption is an egregious dereliction of duty, which entitles him to petition the High Court seeking an order to compel the anti-corruption agency, to discharge its constitutionally prescribed obligation.
He also argued that ZACC, whose obligation is to combat corruption in instances where a complaint and request for investigation has been disregarded, failed to discharge its obligation to investigate the circumstances surrounding the purchase of 526 hectares of land in Chegutu in 2003, which land has not yet been recovered by NSSA.
"The socio-economic justice campaigner wants the High Court to declare that ZACC's failure to act upon his complaint or to investigate the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the piece of land in Chegutu measuring 526 hectares by NSSA to be a breach of section 255(1) of the Constitution.
"He also wants the High Court to direct ZACC to investigate the acquisition of the piece of land in Chegutu measuring 526 hectares by NSSA.
"In addition, Masiyiwa, wants the High Court to direct ZACC to make public within 30 days, the findings of its investigations into the acquisition of the piece of land in Chegutu measuring 526 hectares by NSSA," said his lawyers.
The matter is yet to be heard.
