COMMENT: Zacc should flush out those abusing the personal vehicles duty-free import scheme
COMMITTED to improving the welfare of its workers, the Government launched a scheme in 2019 to enable them to import personal vehicles duty-free.
Under the initiative, civil servants who have served for at least 10 years can import vehicles of a prescribed value without the trouble of paying import duty.
We are sure thousands have benefitted. That has improved their mobility and quality of their life; to some extent, their social standing too. They must be profoundly happy about it.
However, as with all good intentions, there are a few miscreants who always want to spoil it all for everyone else. They are greedy, criminal, destructive and selfish.
Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) boss until her recent appointment as Prosecutor-General, said, as we reported yesterday, the commission will soon impound at least 2 000 vehicles that were imported through abuse of the civil servants’ car import scheme. Zacc has engaged in Operation No to Abuse of Civil Servants Rebate Scheme.
Specifics of the illegalities committed have not been disclosed, but we suspect that the rebate scheme could have also been abused by some people who aren’t civil servants bribing some civil servants to import vehicles under their (civil servants) names. The vehicle gets imported as if it belongs to the civil servant yet it belongs to the non-civil servant. As soon as the car is imported, the civil servant hands over the vehicle to the non-civil servant who then pays the civil servant a fee. There are obviously many more possible underhand schemes that defiled this highly empowering Government programme.
That’s unfortunate.
However, we are pleased that Zacc, is hot on the heels of the miscreants.
Civil servants and their connections who abused the scheme must be arrested for fraud, misrepresenting themselves, offering and accepting bribes.
These are jailable offences, which will entail the civil servant concerned losing their job and paying restitution to the State.
It will be good also if the names of the criminals concerned were to be published in the mainstream media.
This will emphasize the message that the Government is committed to eradicating corruption.
It’s possible that, given its abuse, authorities could be tempted to scrap the scheme. We feel punishing law-abiding civil servants for the transgressions of a minority would be excessive. Rather, Zacc must continue flushing out those who are abusing the scheme, while the Public Service Commission continues to process applications by those who legitimately want to benefit under the initiative.
