JUSTICE, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has defended the Special Anti-Corruption Unit (Sacu) housed in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office despite public concerns that the organ was duplicating the role of other ant-graft bodies and pursuing an extortionist and political agenda. BY MOSES MATENGA Ziyambi made the remarks during Wednesday’s question-and-answer session after Norton Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa (Independent) questioned the conduct and constitutionality of Sacu. “There is absolutely no conflict at all within the functions of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, the Police and the Special Anti-Corruption Unit within the office of the President,” Ziyambi said. “It is purely a special unit in his office and if they do their work, should they want to go and prosecute, our National Prosecution Authority Act allows the Prosecutor-General to issue prosecutorial certificates to legal practitioners with special skills according to his own assessment where he sees that there are deficiencies and that is what is followed,” Ziyambi said. Opposition parties and observers have often accused Mnangagwa of setting up Sacu to run a parallel anti-graft fight targeting his political rivals, thus working at cross purposes with Zacc and police. But Ziyambi said there was no conflict of interest as each unit had its own unique terms of reference. “In so far as arresting is concerned, those that are vested with the powers are doing that. This is purely a special unit within the office of the President with a specific mandate given by His Excellency the President and they do not and have never interfered with the work of any organ that is established in the Constitution.” Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda also defended Sacu, saying: “The Constitution does indicate that corruption has got to be fought and it is up to the President to put structures that can help him to fight corruption.”