On a commuter omnibus driver slips a folded US dollar note into a police officer’s hand. There is no argument, no raised voice. The exchange is quiet, rehearsed, and efficient.
Traffic flows again. This is a familiar picture for every commuter on almost a daily basis. For the driver, it is the cost of doing business.
For the passenger watching from the back seat, it is just another reminder that in Zimbabwe, corruption is not an event. It is routine. The National Bribe Payers Index (NBPI) 2025 by Transparency International Zimbabwe, which surveyed 1590 Zimbabweans, puts numbers to this everyday experience.
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A majority of respondents (56%) said bribery had strongly increased over the past three years, while 30% reported a moderate increase. Only 8% believed corruption levels had remained unchanged. The country walks into the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2) period, covering 2026 to 2030.
On paper, NDS2 is confident and assertive. It promises an uncompromising fight against corruption through a Whole-of-Government and Society approach, strengthened institutions, anti-corruption courts, whistleblower protection, asset recovery, and digitalised public services. But on the ground, the lived reality captured by the National Bribe Payers Index (NBPI) tells a more sobering story.
For many Zimbabweans, corruption begins at the point of service. The NBPI shows that bribery is most prevalent in policing, vehicle inspection, local authorities, health services, and education. These are not luxury services.
These are essentials. A mother seeking treatment at a public hospital may be asked to “facilitate” faster attention. A motorist at the Vehicle Inspection Department knows the unwritten rules.
A job seeker learns quickly that merit is often secondary to connections or payments. The NBPI notes that most bribes range between US$1–20 and US$20–100, placing them firmly in the category of petty corruption, but their impact is anything but petty. NDS2 speaks of strengthening service delivery through decentralisation and e-government systems to reduce human discretion and corruption opportunities.
The logic is sound. But digitisation without accountability risks automating corruption rather than eliminating it. The most worrying finding in the NBPI is not the frequency of bribery, but how people think about it.
The report notes that many citizens now view corruption as “normal” and doubt that reporting it will lead to action. Fear of retaliation, lack of whistleblower protection, and mistrust in institutions all contribute to silence. This matters because NDS2 explicitly prioritises the enactment of whistleblower protection legislation and the strengthening of anti-corruption courts.
Yet Zimbabwe has heard these promises before. Without visible enforcement, laws become symbolic gestures.
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