Zacc keeps an eye on parastatals

ONLY 26 percent of Zimbabwe's parastatals are implementing the recommendations in Auditor-General's report, a development that is worrying the Zimbabwe Anti-corruption Commission (Zacc).

Each year, the Auditor-General's office receives funding from Treasury to assess whether public enterprises are appropriately handling public funds.

The Auditor-General reports are published with recommendations to stop leakages, abuse and improve efficiencies.

Speaking during an Accounting and Financial Reporting Seminar for Finance Directors Employed by Independent Commissions last week, Zacc deputy chairperson Mr Kuziva Murapa revealed that only 26 percent of the parastatals were implementing the recommendations in the Auditor General's report.

"The noncompliance with the auditor general's recommendations has seen millions of dollars of undelivered goods that have been identified in the audits, not being followed up and not being recovered.

"This has resulted in huge losses in public entities and it is taxpayers who fund these entities," said Mr Kuziva, on Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN).

"What the Auditor-General publishes is only a sample up to about 10 percent, which means there is a lot of dust that is out there that has not been brought into the public preview.

"So, it is something that we are thinking about, it is something that we will discuss, and see whether we can have a supplementary report that details all the misdemeanours."

Auditor-General Mildred Chiri released the 2019's audit report of parastatals and state enterprises last year and in the executive summary, she said the audit findings warrant the attention of management and those charged with governance.

"The audit revealed that most of the weaknesses emanated from governance issues. It is therefore imperative that state enterprises and parastatals embrace provisions of the new Public Entities Corporate Governance Act [Chapter 10:31] and incorporate these into their existing structures and processes.

"I envisage a situation where the performance of state enterprises and parastatals will greatly improve if my recommendations and provisions of the said Act are implemented," said Mrs Chiri.