Online Reporter
Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
PARLIAMENT’S Public Accounts Committee will, from tomorrow start an inquiry into the accounts of local authorities, with 19 councils from the country’s southern region being the first to appear over the coming three days in Bulawayo.
The councils’ books were flagged by the then Acting Auditor General Mrs Rhea Kujinga for various issues in her 2024 report.
Chairperson of the PAC and Marondera Central legislator confirmed the inquiry on his Twitter handle.
“The PAC will be stationed in Bulawayo between Thursday, 28 May, and Saturday, 30 May.
“The following local authorities have been summoned to appear before the committee for not having clean audits,” he said.
The local authorities are Bulawayo City Council, Gwanda Municipality, Gwanda RDC, Plumtree Town Council, Mangwe RDC, Bulilima RDC, Lupane Local Board and Kusile RDC.
The others are Hwange Local Board, Hwange RDC, Victoria Falls City Council, Bubi RDC, Umguza RDC, Insiza RDC, Umzingwane RDC, Matobo RDC, Tsholotsho RDC, Nkayi RDC and Binga RDC.
Mr Matewu said the inquiry will cover all 92 local authorities in the country and was meant to improve service delivery to residents and ratepayers.
In her summary, Mrs Kujinga said there was an increase in reported issues on good corporate governance from 190 for 66 local authorities reported in the 2023 report to 235 for 79 local authorities in 2024.
“In this report, there are instances of weak internal control over inventory, compliance with laws and regulations, cash management, unsupported adjustments and incomplete records. In addition, the majority of the local authorities were lagging in embracing technology, as most of their business processes were still manual or partially automated.
“Lack of full automation of accounting systems resulted in late submission of financial statements and due to lapse of time, document retention is compromised, resulting in incomplete records. In light of the above, local authorities and those in charge of governance are therefore encouraged to embrace the Government’s thrust on implementation of Information Communication Technology, which includes the electronic Government Procurement (eGP) system and E-filing and bring their books to current,” she said.
Mrs Kujinga said late or non-submission of financial statements created gaps in accountability, limited the scope of audit and delayed the commencement of the audit, thereby affecting the completion of audits.
“Some Local Authorities had modules of their accounting systems which were not activated, resulting in partial automation and backlogs. Notably, non-delivery of goods and services resulted in loss of value. While the Government is in a drive for full IPSAS implementation, a number of Local Authorities were still in arrears. However, the migration to full IPSAS in line with the Zimbabwe Financial Reporting Manual (ZFRM) has resulted in improved quality of submitted financial statements,” she said.
