The Sunday Mail
Written by Africa Moyo
TAX COLLECTORS have never been the most adored people since time immemorial and the country’s chief tax collector, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), does not enjoy the greatest of relations with most citizens, including Government.
Zimra’s image in the public eye has been decimated by years of alleged corruption ranging from conniving with importers; conspiring with motorists at tollgates (in the past) and lately, pilfering from the whistleblower’s facility.
The whistleblower’s facility was established in 2001 with a view to recover lost revenue by unscrupulous and unco-operative companies or individuals, through tip-offs by members of the public.
Under the arrangement, anyone who brings information that leads to the recovery of revenue gets 10 percent of the total value Zimra recoups.
The facility falls under Ms Anna Mutombodzi, the commissioner for investigations and international affairs.
It is, however, currently suspended for the duration of the amnesty which runs from October 1 2014 to March 31 2015. This means that Zimra will not be receiving information on new cases until the suspension period has expired.
When contacted for comment, Zimra director, legal and corporate services Ms Florence Jambwa told The Sunday Mail Business in e-mailed responses that the facility was designed to augment the authority’s other strategies to recover lost revenue such as investigations, post clearance and taxes audits which are carried out to retrieve undeclared or undisclosed taxable incomes.
But speculation is rife that Zimra officials investigating cases of tax evasion frustrate ordinary citizens that volunteer information which could lead to the recovery of taxes from culprits until they abandon the cases, creating avenues for the officials to “allocate the same case to relatives”.
Sources say by “allocating” the cases to relatives, the Zimra officials will be attempting to create the impression that members of the public are the beneficiaries, when in fact it will be relatives camouflaging the evil machinations of powerful officials.
Ms Jambwa said the whistleblower facility has had positive impact on both direct recoveries and increased compliance, but strenuously denied the existence of “insider dealings”.
She repeated the tired mantra that the facility is “open to members of the public, except Zimra officers”, but refused to divulge incontrovertible statistics of how much money has been disbursed so far and to how many people.
“While we appreciate your need for these statistics, it would be prudent to advise you that the exact beneficiaries of the facility are difficult to quantify over the last 13 years given that, at law, we may only keep records for up to six years.
“Even though, at times whistleblowers may work in cohorts and therefore their numbers may not be within our scope of identification. Furthermore, the quantification of the amounts would not give us a true reflection of the exact amounts since we have had a Zimbabwe dollar era and a multi-currency dispensation over the period you refer to.
“Suffice to say, a whistleblower is entitled to 10 percent of the retrieved undeclared or undisclosed taxable incomes,” said Ms Jambwa.
She added that reports suggesting Zimra officials looted the facility “are not true” because “in terms of the Revenue Authority Act Chapter (23:01), it is illegal for Zimra officers to participate in the facility”.
“We have no record of any Zimra officer having benefited from the facility.
“In addition, there is thorough vetting at the time that information is received to guard against Zimra officials participating in the scheme and the vetting also verifies if the information is not already being investigated by the authority,” said Ms Jambwa.
However, close sources insist that when ordinary citizens take cases to Zimra, officials frustrate progress until the informant gives, and they take over the case and use friends and/or relatives as fronts, with whom they will share the proceeds.
Effectively, it will be a Zimra official getting money under the veneer of an “ordinary citizen”.
Meanwhile, Ms Jambwa said Zimra has a policy of zero tolerance to corruption and the authority is keen to receive any evidence that can see corrupt officials brought to book.
Notwithstanding the plethora of corruption cases, Ms Jambwa declined to provide statistics of employees that have either been fired or disciplined.
“We are unable to provide you figures of employees dismissed as a result of corruption or any other reason as disciplinary cases may be at different litigation stages of being dealt with,” she said.
