adminElita Chikwati and Rudo Muchedzi
Parastatals are working on submitting their financial statements to the Auditor General’s Office as required by law, amid indications that 38 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and parastatals were not compliant.
Some of the parastatals appeared before the Public Accounts Committee chaired by Mr Tendai Biti last Friday to explain why they were failing to submit their financial accounts to the Auditor-General.
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), National Handling Services (NHS), Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC), Air Zimbabwe, Allied Health Practitioners Council, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), appeared before the Committee last Friday.
They all said they were working towards complying with the law, despite the challenges being faced. First to appear before the Committee was ZACC, led by Commissioner Gabriel Chaibva.
After ZACC members took oath and were about to give their evidence, business came to a standstill after Mberengwa East MP Cde Marko Raidza and Chegutu West MP Cde Dexter Nduna queried why Mr Biti was chairing the committee when he and other MDC-Alliance members walked out of the National Assembly when President Mnangagwa was about to present his State of the Nation Address in October last year.
The two exchanged harsh words with MDC-A members. Mr Biti temporarily adjourned the committee as they consulted with the Speaker, who ruled that the Committee business should proceed.
Proceedings then took-off after nearly two hours. Comm Chaibva told the Committee that ZACC had failed to submit financial statements due to delays in the appointment of the new commission.
“During that period in the absence of the Commission in 2010 and 2011, there was upheaval in the finance department resulting in the incarceration of other senior officials, he said. “Our accounting system is now in place; I assure the committee we will submit the financial statement as the 2018 reports are now ready.”
The ZYC led by its head of finance, Mr Tonderai Mhodzi, said the organisation had been operating without a board since 2016. However, they submitted the 2018 financial report to the Ministry Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation on March 3.
“We assure the Committee to have completed the 2019 report by mid-April. The delay was caused by the absence of the external auditors,” said Mr Mhodzi.
Air Zimbabwe chief executive Mr Joseph Makonese said their 2016 accounts were signed on January 29 while their 2017 accounts were being finalised and drafts were availed on Friday last week for review while reports for 2018 are work in progress.
The airline stopped functioning for one-and-a-half years before resuming operations recently. Soon after that, there was a forensic audit, which had to be carried out for two years. The auditors were unable to complete their work until the forensic audit was finished and that contributed to the delay resulting in the 2019 financial accounts not there by now.
Airzim expects the accounts to be up to date by December. The Allied Health Practitioners Council led Mrs Farirai Maziriri said they submitted the 2018 financials in January because the financial report and the pastel were not updated. They assured the committee that they will comply, since the pastel system was now functional.
The organisation is now progressing with the 2019 financial reports using an updated pastel, which allows timeous production.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter