In addition to the vehicles, public institutes also paid
for 167 laptops and various office furniture items which are yet to be
delivered and some of them since 2020, Maxwell Makotore, the director of audit
in the Auditor General’s office has said.
He wondered why provisions of contracts on non-performance
by the supplies were not being invoked.
Makotore said this as he raised issues of bad governance in
public entities including local authorities during a two-day Procurement
Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) organised workshop held at a local
lodge at Mutirikwi Dam near Masvingo last week.
His presentation was on the Auditor General’s public
procurement audit findings for 2023.
He expressed grave concern at governance issues, management
of assets, revenue collection and debt recovery, employment, service delivery
and procurement of goods and services as the issues that rock local authorities
and other government entities.
Audits showed that tender procurement procedures are not
followed and payment vouchers, delivery notes and issue vouchers were in some
cases not availed for audit. Supporting documents such as requisitions,
receipts and goods received notes were also not there, said Makotore.
Suppliers missed delivery dates, breached contracts by not
delivering the agreed number of vehicles and varied the approved model of motor
vehicles. Contract management was not effectively done as provisions of
contracts on non-performance by the suppliers were not invoked.
The other anomaly that he noted was the use of wrong
procurement methods and direct procurement method without justification.
The objective of the workshop was to entrench a culture of
good governance in procurement.
The workshop was attended by 90% of public entities
represented by CEOs and boards of state entities under the theme, Collaborative
Governance: Building Partnerships for Effective Public Procurement and
Corporate Governance.
“In the local authorities’ report, there were 21 findings
reported in the current year covering non-delivery of goods, failure to reflect
bids as non-responsive where the bidder has failed to comply with obligations
to pay taxes or social security contributions in Zimbabwe. It was also noted
that there were unsupported procurement with no quotation, invoice, delivery
note, receipts and payment voucher,” said Makotore.
Makotore added that in other instances, the suppliers missed the delivery dates, breached the contracts by not delivering the agreed number of vehicles and varied the approved model of motor vehicles. Contract management was not effectively done as provisions of contracts on non-performance by the supplies were not invoked.
“In the local authorities’ report, there were 21 findings
reported in the current year covering issues which include non-delivery of
goods, failure to reflect bids as non-responsive where the bidder has failed to
comply with obligations to pay taxes or social security contributions in
Zimbabwe. It was also noted that there was unsupported procurement with no
quotation, invoice, delivery note, receipts and payment voucher,” said
Makotore. Masvingo Mirror
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