CASES of lack of accountability, violation of procedures
and non-compliance by local authorities have continued to rise over the years,
a sign that the provision of service delivery is weakening in the country, the
Auditor General, Mrs Mildred Chiri, has said.
In her annual report on local authorities, Mrs Chiri said
during the year under review, 59 governance issues were noted from local
authorities and these related to absence of policies and procedures as well as
non-compliance with statutory regulations.
She said there was a need for improvement in accountability
in local authorities.
“The number of reported service delivery issues have risen
over the years, which is a sign of weakening service provision by various local
authorities. It’s of great concern that governance issues over the years have
continued to dominate my findings. Although there was an improvement from 2015
to 2016 (reduction from 68 percent to 49 percent), there has been a notable
surge from 49 percent to 67 percent in the governance issues in 2017 and 2018
respectively,” said Mrs Chiri.
The Auditor-General said 70 local authorities had not
submitted their financial statements for audit as at May 31.
For Bulawayo she said: “A car loan agreement to an employee
with a value of $434 450 was not approved by the town clerk as per procedure.
The agreement was only signed by the employee. There was also no contract for a
car loan amounting to $8 743 advanced to another employee.”
She said there was risk of financial loss due to violation
of procedures and lack of basis for legal recourse in the event of disputes.
“Gweru City Council
could not reconcile rates and water accounts amounting to $12 738 875 and $7
312 445 to bank statement balances of $303 942 and $70 582 respectively. Its
employees have accumulated excess leave days which effectively implies that
some of them have not been on leave for at least 17 years and others 24 years.
Gweru was also unable to provide layout plans for the stands sold during the
year,” said Mrs Chiri.
She said Tsholotsho
RDC monthly payroll schedules could not be availed. Payroll for the year was
extrapolated from a July 2016 payroll schedule which was incomplete as it
excluded the chief executive officer.
Mrs Chiri said Tsholotsho RDC also received Zimdef funds
from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology
Development and there was no transparency in the use of the money.
“These funds were utilised by the council without any supporting
documents availed to audit for my inspection. On enquiry with management about
the nature of the arrangement and the reasons why the monies had been
transferred out, the explanation proffered was that the transactions had been
done on the instruction of the then Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education,
Professor Jonathan Moyo,” said Mrs Chiri.
At Kusile RDC, the Auditor General said stands owned by
employees were exempted from rate charges, which was in contravention of the
Urban Councils Act Chapter 29:15. Mrs
Chiri said Bubi RDC among others were operating without key policies and
procedure manuals.
She said the local authority could not provide
documentation to support exemption of the council employees from paying rates.
At Hwange RDC, council had a vehicle which was not
registered in its name and no documentation was availed to explain or support
how the vehicle had been acquired.
Upon inquiry, Mrs Chiri said council indicated that one of
the debtors paid using a vehicle acquired from a third party who left the
country without signing the necessary transfer papers.
Government has said it will soon write letters to all
parastatals, departments and local authorities emphasising the need to act
urgently on the recommendations of the Auditor General. Herald
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