Auditor General Mildred Chiri’s 2019 on Local Authorities has exposed incompetence in urban local authorities around Zimbabwe.
The auditor general in the report says governance and service delivery issues have continued to dominate my report for Local Authorities.
“Out of fifty-nine (59) issues I am reporting; thirty-four (34) relate to the area of governance while (25) twenty-five relate to revenue collection, employment costs, procurement, and service delivery,” Chiri says.
“Governance issues reported in the current year are in respect of Councils operating without key policy documents, failure to review and approve payroll prior to processing, absence of control over contracted out services, improper management of Council assets, development of and without approval of the responsible Minister and other issues on ineffective internal control systems.”
The Auditor General report shows that local authorities lack proper revenue collection systems, have wasteful expenditures, and offer poor service.
Lack of Proper Revenue Collection Systems
Gweru City Council had stands valued at $1 714 784 sold, but the amount could not be traced in the financial statements.
Mutare City Council is said to have not banked all cash collected and was unable to provide a breakdown of $1,1 million written off as part of a discount to ratepayers.
Bindura Municipal Council billed accounts with no valid names, some of which had been created by unknown system users.
In the Masvingo City Council, 2018 parking fees receipted in South African Rands amounting to R1 308 were not deposited into the Council’s bank account and were not accounted for.
Marondera City Council likewise did not maintain a detailed list of rented properties and lease agreements
Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditures
Bindura Municipal Council paid US$90 850 to acquire a front-end loader in December 2018, but it had not been delivered at the time of audit in October 2020.
Mutare City Council also paid a supplier US$330 000 in 2012 for the supply of water pipes which were yet to be delivered at the time of audit in December 2020.
Ruwa Local Board bought five tablet phones valued at $7 609 from a local supplier in November 2018, but they had not been delivered at the time of audit in February 2020.
Poor service delivery
Masvingo City Council was producing 30 megalitres of treated water per day and the current
demand for the Council was 48 megalitres per day.
Bindura Municipality’s suburbs such as Brockdale, Woodbrooke, Greenhill, Cleverhill, and Chiwaridzo 3 (Garikayi) have not been accessing tap water since their establishment.
Chegutu City Council and Chiredzi town Council had 80% and over 50% respectively of its
residents with non-functional water meters.
Chinhoyi Municipality lost 62.5% of its processed water, on the other hand, Shackleton, and Alaska
areas had 1 694 households without access to potable water whilst Rujeko suburb had 365 out of its
380 households without water accounts.
Marondera Municipality could only provide 13,5 megalitres of water against a daily demand of 27 megalitres.
Concerns on the AG Report
Professor Alex Magaisa has raised concern that the AG report had been censored to remove and protect names of the powerful elite or entities associated with them.
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) had earlier on complained that the report was delayed in terms of releasing it for public consumption.
Other critics say there is a lack of commitment to the implementation of recommendations in Chiri’s audit reports.
Chiri’s Response
In response to concerns that the report had been censored to protect powerful elite and entities, Chiri said she feared litigation from suspects named in the AG report.
“This [the omission] was done to minimize the risk of potential litigation. There have been comebacks from some of our suppliers in the past,” she was quoted by local media.
