BY PRIVELEDGE GUMBODETE/TAFADZWA KACHIKO
GOVERNMENT has been urged to set aside a fund to establish safe houses for whistleblowers.
In March, Cabinet okayed the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Whistleblowers) Bill, which seeks to protect individuals who provide information on illicit activities within organisations they are employed in or in society in general.
Speaking, yesterday, during a Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) discussion on the importance of whistle-blower protection legislation, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) commissioner Jessie Fungai Majome said the country’s proposed framework on whistle-blower protection needs to be strengthened.
“Our framework is underdeveloped. We might need to actually move whistleblowers from the locations where they live and take them to other provinces of our country. We do not have the facilities (safe houses) for that. We also do not have legislation that requires the State to set aside funding for safe houses. There is no specific budget for that, and it can only be done if the law has a provision for setting up of a fund,” Majome said.
She urged those drafting the Bill to take a leaf from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority which has been rewarding whistleblowers by exempting them from paying tax.
“There is a similar facility in the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority legislation that allows tax whistleblowers to obtain some reward if their whistle blowing results in retraction of tax evasion. In order for...
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