Corruption Crisis at RTSA

... The ACC Arrests Five Officers, Blames Institutional Rot for Deadly Roads

By Francis Maingaila

Lusaka, Zambia24 - (05-06-2025) - The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has arrested five officers from the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) for allegedly running a corruption racket that undermined national road safety in exchange for bribes.

The suspects—Joel Banda (Registry Clerk), Constance Masupelo and Leah Kunda Ekashiya (Road Traffic Inspectors), and two others—were allegedly issuing driving licences, test certificates, and other official documents without following legal procedures, including bypassing physical inspections and competency tests.

This, according to Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is Ms. Daphne Pauline Soko Chabu at the press conference, has contributed to the deaths of thousands on Zambia’s roads.

“This is not just about corruption—it is about lives,” said ACC Director General, in a scathing rebuke of RTSA’s internal governance.

“When officials license unroadworthy vehicles or allow incompetent drivers on the road, they are indirectly responsible for the road carnage we see every day. This is a betrayal of public trust at the highest level.”

The ACC chief warned that the agency would not spare any individual—past or present—found to have used public office for personal gain.

He accused some institutions, without naming them, of deliberately withholding critical records and obstructing investigations, describing such conduct as a threat to national security and justice.

“We are witnessing a culture where institutions protect their own, even at the expense of Zambian lives. Let me be clear: any refusal to cooperate with ACC investigations is tantamount to aiding corruption,” he warned, calling for urgent political will across all state agencies.

The scandal has reignited public outrage over Zambia’s alarming rate of road traffic accidents—costing the country an estimated K1.67 billion annually—which many believe are preventable if regulatory systems worked.

RTSA Chief Executive Officer Amon Mweemba, speaking with visible frustration, admitted that the agency had been infiltrated by “bad eggs” and vowed a housecleaning operation with no sacred cows.

“RTSA will not shield any corrupt official,” he declared. “The days of impunity are over. We are determined to uproot all forms of corruption from within our ranks.”

Mweemba urged the public to blow the whistle on any RTSA staff engaging in bribery, solicitation, or malpractice by calling the agency’s integrity hotline 0955-333098 or reporting to the ACC. “This fight must be collective,” he stressed. “We cannot transform the agency alone—we need the public’s help.”

Critics argue that the arrests expose deeper institutional failure and reflect the need for comprehensive reform of Zambia’s public service, especially in regulatory bodies where corruption often operates in silence.

As the five officers prepare to face the courts, political analysts say this case could become a litmus test for the government’s anti-corruption credentials, especially as public confidence in law enforcement and regulatory institutions continues to dwindle.

Zambians, already burdened by inflation and poor service delivery, are watching closely—not just for convictions, but for political accountability in a system many feel is rigged against ordinary citizens.