ZBC airtime scandal exposed

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation was prejudiced of thousands of dollars by its staff through an irregular and haphazard discount of advertising airtime to customers, an audit has revealed.

In her 2012 report, Comptroller Auditor-General Ms Mildred Chiri noted that staff in the marketing department were indiscriminately awarding discounts to customers, a situation she said could have cost the corporation thousands of dollars.

Ms Chiri did not, however, reveal how much the corporation was prejudiced of, but a sample of about 11 days that she took showed a possible prejudice of about US$30 000.

"There was no documented policy to regulate airtime discounts given to customers. The discounts were inconsistently applied without any proper explanations being given to justify the variations," said Ms Chiri. "In some instances airtime was sold at discounts of between 50 percent and 75 percent."

According to a table she drew for one day, a discount of US$5 190 was given on an advert whose rate card was US$8 640.

The rate was applied on four occasions resulting in potential prejudice of US$20 760. In another instance, ZBC charged US$500 on an advertisement whose rate card was US$2 000. In its response to the auditors, ZBC noted their concerns.

"Observation is noted. Upon discovery of the potential abuse, management instituted an investigation, which led to the suspension and ultimate dismissal of the then head of marketing.

"In the interim an authority level has been put in place for discounts and marketing has since been tasked to come up with a marketing policy," read the responses. On governance issues it was noted that the internal audit manager reported to the chief executive officer.

In another report on Zesa Enterprises Pvt Limited, Ms Chiri noted that the agreement entered between it and PME India in 2010 did not cover the supply of raw materials and this resulted in a number of challenges.