THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has admitted its books were in a mess when the Auditor-General (AG) Mildred Chiri audited them in 2019.
In her 2020 audit of Zacc accounts, Chiri revealed that the
anti-graft body failed to account for millions of United States dollars between
2012 and 2019.
In a statement yesterday, Zacc spokesperson John Makamure
said: “The Commission takes note of the issues raised in the Auditor-General
Mildred Chiri’s report stating that the commission failed to furnish her office
with supporting documentation for payment of goods and services, and other
substantial disbursements. The commission would like to state that it is
currently studying the document and will issue a comprehensive statement in due
course.”
Makamure admitted that Zacc’s books for the period 2012 to
2019 were not in order owing to legacy issues.
He said since the appointment of the Justice Loice
Matanda-Moyo-led Zacc, they had worked tirelessly to enhance professionalism
and transparency at the commission.
“The commission has introduced a new culture of conducting
business guided by robust standard operating procedures, regulatory frameworks
and internal policies and procedure manuals,” the statement read.
In her audit report, Chiri revealed that in 2012 and 2013
Zacc failed to produce supporting documents, supplier statements and invoices
for transactions amounting to US$2 417 374 and US$814 841.
“In 2017 there were no supporting documents availed to
validate expenditure and payables amounting to US$2 064 864 and US$474 138
respectively presented in the financial statements. I was, therefore, unable to
perform alternative procedures to obtain assurance as to the accuracy and
completeness of these balances,” Chiri said.
Meanwhile, Chiri yesterday told participants at a media
engagement workshop in Nyanga that the AG’s office will introduce vernacular
summaries of audit reports, starting with Ndebele and Shona for easy
understanding by citizens.
“My office has plans to introduce vernacular summaries of
the reports. We intend to start with Ndebele and Shona versions and hope to
increase the dialects with time,” Chiri said.
She said the media had assisted her office to reach out to
millions of people, some of them in remote areas through unravelling
inadequacies, excesses and lack of compliance in audits.
“Audit reports by nature point out anomalies in an
organisation which mainly impinge on financial resources. However, that does
not mean that there are no positive developments and success stories in that
entity,” Chiri said.
“The audit report only gives half the story. The other half
can be obtained from the organisation or ministry itself. Therefore, assessing
the overall performance of a public entity using the findings of the AG’s
report alone would be myopic and incomplete,” she said.
She said the role of her office was to promote public
sector transparency and accountability through auditing accounts of ministries,
State enterprises and local authorities.
“If audit recommendations are implemented, the positive
difference that is expected in citizens’ lives will be realised,” Chiri added.
Newsday
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