Expose corruption, media and civil society urged Cde Madzongwe

ednamadzongweNyemudzai Kakore in BULAWAYO—
Media practitioners and civil society organisations (CSOs) should “name and shame” corrupt public officials as a measure to deter recurrence of the vice, Senate President Cde Edna Madzongwe said yesterday. Addressing delegates at a workshop to enhance the competencies of media practitioners and CSOs in understanding financial reporting and accountability in local authorities, Cde Madzongwe said without a competitive media and vibrant CSOs, openness, transparency and accountability would be impossible to attain.

The two-day workshop, which is being funded by the African Development Bank under the Strengthening Institutions of Transparency and Accountability (SITA) and Southern African Parliament Support Trust (SAPST), is aimed at familiarising the media and CSOs with the legal framework governing financial reporting.

Cde Madzongwe said the media was not only an indispensable bridging institution between Parliament and the public, but also served as a “watchdog” against all kinds of financial misappropriation.

She said despite the law providing that the State and all agencies of Government were supposed to be accountable to Parliament, they were supposed to accountable to the people of Zimbabwe.

“For Parliament to succeed in exposing capricious behaviour and corporate malpractices, it must forge mutually beneficial alliances and relationships with the media and CSOs as these are the moral vanguards of social and political accountability,” she said.

“Along with the media, CSOs offer a mechanism for disseminating findings and recommendations. Both can exert additional pressure on politicians and civil servants to improve individual conduct and wider public-service delivery.”

She cited Section 61 of the Constitution, which granted every Zimbabwean citizen and permanent resident the right to access information held by the State and all institutions of Government at every level.

Cde Madzongwe said participatory democracy, codified in Section 141 of the Constitution demanded that all interested and affected parties to get the “ear” of Parliament whenever they had issues they wanted to raise.

Cde Madzongwe urged the media, both private and public, to carry out in-depth research on stories covered and provide the necessary background information on all sides of the story and avoid the temptation of unbalanced and emotional reportage.

“Both the media and CSOs often have an even stronger direct influence on the executive, which may extend to the civil service through diagonal accountability relationships,” she said.

Presenting a topic on enhancing media practitioners’ appreciation of the mandate of Parliament and the Public Accounts committee, the Clerk of Parliament, Mr Kennedy Chokuda, said democracy could not function without a “free media and therefore the media should play a watchdog role”.

Mr Chokuda outlined legal provisions that governed the operations of Parliament and urged the media to familiarise themselves with the statutes.

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