Zimsec in tender row

Harare Bureau
THE Comptroller and Auditor-General has       unearthed financial irregularities at the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council involving close to $2 million. Zimsec flouted tender procedures, paid service providers $1,8 million without proper invoicing, overpaid suppliers, and bought a UD truck for  $149,000 that was never delivered.In her 2012 report, Comptroller and Auditor-General Mildred Chiri observed that some payments were made before goods were received.

“The standard practice is that goods are received and invoice submitted which is then paid.  Some payments were made without an invoice and in most cases well before the service or goods have been received. As a result errors were encountered when the service received failed to agree with what was paid for,” she said.

Responding to the audit report, Zimsec said it traditionally pays deposits for catering and accommodation services during examination-related workshops.
Chiri also observed that Zimsec was allowing host institutions to engage caterers they had contracts with in contravetion of State Procurement Board resolution which required it to invite approved caterers for examinations markers.

Chiri said Conduit Investments (Pvt) Ltd had not yet delivered a truck by April 2012 after being paid $130,000 in June 2011. Zimsec told the audit team that the supplier had made several excuses and promises.

“The supplier went on to ask for an extra payment of $19,000 above the tender price and was paid on November 11, 2011, bringing the total payment to $149,446,” reads Chiri’s report.

Zimsec director Esau Nhandara told our Harare Bureau yesterday that they had eventually received the truck but “after a fight”. The audit also observed that Zimsec inflated some suppliers’ invoices in their accounting system.

In one case, Mutare Teachers College invoiced $73,828 but Zimsec posted an amount of $121,917 in its accounting system, representing $48,088 extra.
It was also noted that Zimsec overpaid some suppliers for services rendered.

According to a sample given by the audit, Masvingo Teachers College was paid $18,606 against an invoice of $12,770, an overpayment of $5,836. Zimsec said their finance section had over the years been preparing a reconciliation of the actual invoice issued and the control sheets to avoid paying for services not rendered.