Govt of Rhodesia still owns properties in Mozambique

Former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and his government are still listed as owners of Zimbabwe properties in Mozambique, 34 years after their demise, Comptroller and Auditor General Mildred Chiri's audit has unearthed.

In her 2011 audit report, now before the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, Chiri also revealed the ministry of Foreign Affairs rented out housing units that had been constructed for consular staff in Beira.

"There are properties in Mozambique which are supposed to be under the ownership of the government of Zimbabwe. However at the date of the audit, the ownership status of some of these properties was not clear," said Chiri. "The properties, which were owned by the Rhodesian government should have been transferred to the Zimbabwean government on the attainment of independence in 1980. Proof of ownership in the form of title deeds was not availed for my inspection."

Zanu PF's guerrilla wing used Mozambique as its launchpad for assaults into the then Rhodesia in a bitter war of attrition against Smith's rogue government that had been ostracised by the British government following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in November 1965.

In a damning indictment of the Foreign Affairs ministry headed by Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Chiri accused the department of "nugatory and wasteful" expenditure and said the government could have avoided an annual expenditure of nearly $20 000 in staff accommodation costs.

"The government of Zimbabwe constructed a block of flats in Beira for consulate staff comprising six housing units during the financial years 2002 to 2003. I noted there was an element of nugatory and wasteful expenditure arising from the arrangement where one consulate staff member was living in a rented property at a monthly rental $1 500, while four units where rented out to outsiders," Chiri said.

"The payment of $18 000 per annum in respect of rentals could have been avoided if the available units  had been applied to consulate staff before offering the same to outsiders."

In her audit of the country's foreign missions and as in other government departments and ministries, Chiri said she encountered weak accounting procedures in Windhoek, Namibia, while the parent ministry exceeded its budget allocation by $2 271 750 as at December 31 2011.

Chiri added: "Reliance cannot be placed on the figures disclosed in the financial statements as significant volumes of transactions from missions were excluded from the ministry's Appropriation Account.

"The ministry failed to process 4 885 accounting transactions relating to expenditure in the various missions due to challenges associated with the configuration of the Public Finance Management System. The total value of the transactions that were not processed could not be quantified."

She said failure to maintain accurate revenue records and accounts for revenue utilised did very little to promote transparency and accountability.