In her latest
audit report for the financial year ended on December 31, 2024 which she
presented to the Parliament of Zimbabwe through the Minister of Finance,
Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube, the
Auditor-General Mrs Rheah Kujinga revealed that Zimra had 27 389 electronic and
10 464 manual Temporary Import Permits (TIPs) that were issued on the basis
that the vehicles were temporarily entering the country.
The
Auditor-General also noted that some of the entries date back to prior years.
She reported
that it could not be ascertained whether the vehicle had exited the country or
may have been localised.
“I could not
ascertain whether the vehicles had exited the country or may have been
localised as they remained not acquitted as at December 31, 2024. I could also
not ascertain the extent of the duty payable in relation to the vehicles that
were localised. The prior year was also modified in respect of this matter,”
said the Auditor-General.
She also raised
concerns with the Authority’s handling of impounded vehicles after finding two
trucks that had been impounded for over 12 months for cases involving illegal
exportation of goods.
The trucks were
still parked at the freight parking site and had not been moved to the car
pounds, where impounded vehicles are parked due to the absence of appropriate
equipment.
“The risks or
implications emanating from such are unauthorised clearance and removal of the
vehicles.
Management
should park the vehicles in the designated areas to reduce the risk of
unauthorised clearance and removal of the vehicles,” said Mrs Kujinga.
While noting
the Auditor-General’s observations in their response, Zimra management said the
truck with horse parked at the Freight Warehouse has not been moved to the car
pound due to technical challenges cited by the towing companies that indicated
that the tow truck cannot tow a loaded truck while the station does not have
appropriate equipment to off-load the 30 tonnes of lithium ore.
“Engagements
are being made to find service providers to offload the lithium ore so that
warehousing can be done in appropriate storage spaces. The other truck is an
empty truck detained in lieu of exportations of undeclared chrome.
Investigations in the case continue.
“The truck
could not be moved to the car pound due to technical challenges encountered
when efforts were made to drive the truck to the car pound. Engagement of
service providers will continue,” responded the Zimra management.
The
Auditor-General also reported on the progress made by the Authority towards
addressing prior year audit findings and implementation of recommendations,
noting that some progress in addressing her audit findings in 2019, 2020, 2021,
2022 and 2023 annual reports was made.
“I raised eight
findings in my 2023 annual report and followed up on 12 outstanding findings
from my 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 annual reports. Six findings were addressed,
11 were partially addressed, while three findings were not addressed,” said Mrs
Kujinga.
The unaddressed
findings were bank reconciliations, automation of payroll processes and Customs
debt from imported vehicles as the debt is still outstanding.
In her
executive summary on the audit of the State Owned Enterprises and Parastatals,
the Auditor-General said the report covers the audit results of 189 financial
statements 176 audited State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and Parastatals.
The financial
statements audited comprises of the statement of financial position, the
statement of financial performance, statement of changes in equity, statement
of cash flows, statement of comparison of budget and actual and notes to the
financial statements.
“The report
highlights key audit findings noted during the audits and recommendations on
how issues raised may be addressed in order to improve public sector
transparency, accountability, good corporate governance and service delivery,”
said Mrs Kujinga.
She noted that
there has been an increase in the non-submission of financial statements by
entities from 45 entities in 2023 to 50 entities in 2024 with six entities
being in arrears of more than three years and this resulted in most of the
State-Owned Enterprises and Parastatals not being able to avail supporting
documents and reconciling variances noted during the audit.
She said the
report enables Parliament and those charged with public sector governance to
discharge their oversight responsibilities in addressing audit findings and it
helps in building public trust in Government institutions, resulting in
contributing to a stable economic environment and the achievement of national
development goals.
The
Auditor-General warned that if the issues that she raised were not addressed,
service delivery, achievement of mandates and efforts made to enhance
transparency and accountability through the various instruments that had been
put in place such as the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act (Chapter
10:31), Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (Chapter 22:23)
and the Public Finance Management Act (Chapter 22:19) may be compromised.
“Those charged
with governance and management are urged to pay attention to the audit findings
so as to address them and improve transparency, accountability, good corporate
governance and service delivery,” she said. Sunday News
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