adminWalter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
MASVINGO City Council has failed to carry out an audit for the past three years amid allegations of embezzlement of funds.
According to the latest council minutes, the local authority has attributed failure to carry out the audit to a shortage of staff within the municipality’s audit department.
The Ministry of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development was said to have turned down a request by Masvingo city council to fill vacant posts within the department.
Masvingo Mayor Councillor Hubert Fidze confirmed to Chronicle the municipality’s failure to audit its books for the past three years.
“Yes, I can confirm that the Council’s financial statements have not been audited for quite some time and that remains a cause for grave concern. However, we are seized with the matter and we understand that there is a critical shortage of staff,” said Fidze.
A senior council employee who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed that council had lost potential donations for capital projects and there was rampant corruption fuelled by a failure to carry out an audit.
On the other hand, council minutes said there was a need for the municipality to ensure that policymakers are not involved in executive functions of the city.
“Policymakers should not be signatories to council payments as this is an executive function. The deviation from the previous arrangement came along following the enactment of the Public Finance Management Act which sought to introduce corporate governance best practices across all public sectors. This has emphasised the need to separate policy making and executive functions,” reads part of the council minutes.
derick.khumalo