Whistleblowers called for in Zimbabwe

- There is a lot of bad news coming out of Zimbabwe, and the state of the media in the country is widely criticised. But here is an interesting one:

A Zimbabwean newspaper have asked the public to submit incriminating documents that could unravel "wrongdoing to the economic well-being in Zimbabwe."

The Zimbabwe Times states: "We have created the forum as a facility for responsible and patriotic citizens to place such information in the public domain in the national interest. This forum is an avenue for civic engagement by Zimbabwean citizens in the rehabilitation of our battered nation’s economy through public accountability and transparency."

The statement goes on: "We hope to keep our elected officials accountable to us, the electorate they serve. Through the X-Files (the forum) we hope to create and maintain transparency, where there may be deliberate attempts to cover up the truth for illicit personal gain."

The newspaper insist that they consider qheque-book journalism (to pay sources for information) as a form of corruption, and state they won`t pay whistleblowers for any information: "Contributions shall be entirely voluntary and no payment shall be disbursed either for documents or for any tips for investigation into corruption." The uploaded files can be seen here.

- Zimbabwe obviously need more transparency in media and political processes, but I`m still not sure what to make of this.