The mayor, who had previously accused the Zimbabwe National
Road Administration (Zinara) of a litany of corporate deficiencies which he
alleged to be the root cause of the deterioration of the city’s roads, on
Monday made a U-turn and exonerated them of any misconduct in the way it
handles road funds.
After meeting the Zinara board led by Dr George Manyaya and
its executive on Monday, Clr Mafume appreciated the work being done by the new
Zinara board in terms of addressing legacy issues that were flagged by the
Grant Thornton audit report.
“The Zinara that is before us is a new Zinara different
from the Zinara that I was talking about, massages, hairlines, and so forth,”
Mafume said.
“I do hope that this new Zinara with a new chairperson (Dr
Manyaya) lives up to their word and this is a good start.
“We take his word that they are sincere in the steps that
they have proposed that they are going to take going forward. I know there were
expectations of a debate, but I think we cannot engage in debates on these
serious issues.
“What we need to come up with to the public is a working
formula that is seen on the ground so that we don’t engage in point scoring and
words that may not turn into reality. So, we appreciate this approach.
“We know that the road network is not as it should be, we
should do better for the motoring public, there can be no excuses for what the
public is now experiencing or is experiencing on a day-to-day basis.”
Zinara chairman, Dr Manyaya said the new team was working
flat out to address all the issues raised on the Grant Thornton audit report.
He also said that the new Zinara had epitomised the ethos
of transparency and resolved to publish all disbursements to road authorities
quarterly over and above having regular annual general meetings.
Out of the 78 issues flagged by the audit, Dr Manyaya said
only five were outstanding which the organisation was already working on.
He said the new Zinara epitomised the ethos of transparency
and had resolved to publish all disbursements to road authorities quarterly
over and above having regular annual general meetings.
“We must ensure that we disburse funds so that we meet the
targets set by His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa when he declared the
Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2.”
Zinara called for an engagement meeting after it was
realised that the roads fund distribution issue was being needlessly dramatised
at the expense of Zimbabweans who needed to be recipients of facts. Herald
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