SALUTATIONS:
Fellow workers and labour leaders of trade unions, we meet once again to deliberate on a very crucial issue which has continued to be an obstacle in the development of organisations and indeed our economy. The labour movement today is seized with the anti-corruption mantra just like any other organisation in the country.
Corruption is a problem that has hampered the growth of our country in not one but many ways. In one aspect or the other, we all have come across the word ‘Corruption’. It is a form of dishonesty or criminal offence undertaken by a person or organization entrusted with a position of authority, to acquire illicit benefit or abuse power for one’s private gain.’ This is manipulation of power and it certainly violates people’s rights and privileges. Today we are gathered as a follow up to our anti-corruption policy that we formulated and adopted in December 2022. Today we focus on a form of corruption or vice that is creeping into our unions; which is fraud. At law, “fraud is the intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right”.
Fraud can violate civil law or criminal law, or it may cause loss of money, and property, thus it remains a civil or criminal wrong. Fraud can seriously hamper the growth and trustworthiness of our unions. We have noted several workers and unionists being charged and dismissed from employment over fraud issues.
Today is a great day because we are speaking on anti-fraud to the Administrators or CEO’s of our unions. As the overseers of union operations you are the first line of defence against fraud but you are also potentially the first perpetrators. Think about embezzlement, cheating on taxes, and lying to donors and membership, lying about the work we did, demanding bribes and kickbacks from employees and suppliers as well as rigging costs. In one aspect or the other, we all have come across the word ‘fraud’ and know the implications on individuals and organisations.
To bring it home, even under declaration of membership to the ZCTU in order to pay less subscription is not only a form of dishonest, but also a fraud! In Zimbabwe corruption has been one of the major obstacles to sustainable economic growth and development. Corruption has risen to unprecedented levels in Zimbabwe. As labour we must actively promote an anti-fraud culture in our internal systems, among officials, external collaborators, cooperating partners and other civic partners. We are duty bound as a social partner to demand a corrupt free environment in Zimbabwe.
We must seek to promote transparency in everything we do as trade unions and indeed as a country. Transparency ensures that information is available that can be used to measure the performance of organisations or the country and to guard against any possible misuse of powers. In that sense, transparency serves to achieve accountability, which means that authorities can be held responsible for their actions.
Comrades I therefore urge you all, to participate with commitment and unity of purpose so that we can map out strategies to combat fraud and corruption in our unions and at national level. Let us make it a culture and priority to fight and report corruption in ZCTU and in our country Zimbabwe. I wish you all fruitful deliberations and declare this workshop officially open.
SOLIDARITY FOREVER!!! SHINGA MUSHANDI SHINGA!!!
