Zimbabwe anti-corruption agency cracks down on theft of drugs from public hospitals

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Pretoria – In a bid to curb the theft of medicine at government health facilities for re-sale on a thriving black market, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission has started monitoring public hospitals and clinics, the state-run Herald newspaper reported on Monday.

The paper said the government had been making strenuous efforts to supply medicines to these institutions, but there were suspicions some of the drugs were being diverted to the illicit market.

The country’s largest public hospitals including Parirenyatwa, Chitungwiza and Sally Mugabe, formerly Harare Central, will be under the anti-corruption unit’s microscope.

The commission, led by former high court judge Loice Matanda-Moyo, was last year given the power to arrest suspects. 

In November 2019 the commission arrested and charged a long-time ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Joram Gumbo, who is also a minister in the presidency, with corruption amounting to $3.7 million.

Gumbo is accused of directing a government-owned airline formed in 2017, when he was Zimbabwe’s transport minister, to use a property owned by his relative as its headquarters.