The Sunday Mail
Chief Reporter
The Transport and Infrastructure Development Ministry is auditing all parastatals under its purview ahead of restructuring them.
The parastatals are Air Zimbabwe, the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, Road Motor Services Pvt Ltd, National Railways of Zimbabwe, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration, the Central Engineering and Mechanical Department and National Handling Services.
Transport Minister Dr Joram Gumbo told The Sunday Mail, “We have ordered forensic audits of all parastatals under the ministry. The objective is to get a full picture of all their operations in keeping with requirements of due diligence.”
Dr Gumbo said the forensic of Zinara was almost complete, and heads would roll if mismanagement and misappropriation of funds were unearthed.
“So far, auditors have only briefed me that they have completed the draft report. In that draft report, they have attended to most of the issues, but they still need to hear out other parties so that they can get a full picture and give us the full report.
“We mandated the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s Office, and they roped in international audit firm Grant Thornton. So, the auditors have assured us that it is work in progress and they will give us the full report once they are ready,” he said.
Zinara collects US$200 million annually from tollgates, fuel levies, vehicle licensing and axle load charges, but there are complaints that the parastatal devotes too few resources to building, maintenance and repair of roads.
In 2017, Zinara gave Harare City Council US$1,2 million against a budget of US$40 million.
The NRZ and Air Zimbabwe have been battling viability problems and are working on turnaround strategies under new management.
In 2015, Zimbabwe introduced the Corporate Governance Code to improve management of parastatals, State-owned enterprises and local authorities.
It is via ZimCode that Government is revising some legislation — with a notable example being the Public Finance Management Bill — to enforce good corporate governance.
