AN investigation into the administration of the Traditional
Beer Levy in Harare has revealed that there is no clear paper trial of how the
money is being used.
The Harare City Council is supposed to collect a levy from
all traditional beers that are brewed within its boundaries.
According to the
Traditional Beer Act, commercial brewers should pay a levy at a rate of three
percent to the local authority for all traditional beer sold by brewers under
the local authority’s jurisdiction.
“The audit manager reported the usage of funds amounting to
$292 931 in violation of the Act in the period between January 1, 2016 and
November 20, 2018. There was also an absence of monthly sales returns from
brewers as no reconciliation or verification of levies paid against the
brewers’ records,” read part of the latest audit committee minutes.
The minutes also noted that collection of the Beer Levy
fund was not being enforced as there were no follow-ups in the collection of
funds.
Audit manager Archbald Nyamurova said currently, there are
no separate accounts maintained by council as required by the law.
He said ideally, the
accounts would be required for the annual preparation of trading, profit and
loss, as well as income and expenditure accounts of controlled liquor funds.
“The beer levy funds were mainly used to procure community
boreholes and upgrading other social infrastructure but the accounting of these
assets was not clear as no separate accounts were being maintained,” he said.
Audit committee chairperson Ian Makone said councillors
resolved that acting finance director Stanley Ndemera should reimburse the $292
931 from the city’s main account.
Makone said the under declaration of beer levies from
commercial brewer should be noted through inspection of delivery notes and
supporting documents periodically.
“We have tasked Ndemera to review Delta Corporation and
Ngoda Breweries’ published financial statements to authenticate the accuracy of
commercial brewers’ remittances each year and report to the committee,” he said
Daily News
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