President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed Advocate Shepherd Manhivi as the new Executive Secretary of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), replacing Sukai Tongogara. The appointment took effect on September 30.
On paper, Advocate Manhivi looks like a heavyweight pick. A lawyer and governance expert, he has worked across almost every corner of Zimbabwe’s governance machine since 2008 — from Parliament, where he advised powerful committees on Mines, Finance, Justice and Foreign Affairs; to COPAC, where he helped draft the 2013 Constitution; to APNAC, where he tried to entrench accountability inside legislatures. He later served at the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission and, most recently, as a Commissioner at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
It’s a CV that ticks all the right boxes. But Zimbabweans are asking a harder question: can Manhivi actually change ZACC’s DNA — or will he preside over the same tired “catch and release” theatre?
The Commission has built a reputation for big headlines with little follow-through. Remember the case of former Health Minister Obadiah Moyo, arrested over the COVID-19 equipment scandal? Acquitted.
Related Stories
Former ZINARA executives accused of looting millions? Cases collapsed. Ex ministers Prisca Mupfumira and Ignatius Chombo, once paraded as ZACC’s “big fish”?
Even politically connected tycoons like Wicknell Chivayo caught up in tender scandals somehow find the revolving door wide open.
Neville Mustvangwa accused of manipulating the local currency into devaluation resulting in loss to millions of the unwashed. Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu’s goat scandal. Such cases and more dying slow deaths in the justice system.
Each arrest sparks noise, but the silence that follows is louder.
So when ZACC congratulates its new boss and talks about “steering the organisation to greater heights,” Zimbabweans shrug. The question they really want answered is this: is Manhivi coming in to finally put teeth in the fight against corruption — or to polish the shields protecting the politically connected, the Zvigananda of this world?
He takes office at a time when public trust in anti-graft institutions is scraping the floor.
Leave Comments