Auditor General Mildred Chiri presented her 2020 report to Parliament, which again reveals the high level of corruption in Zimbabwe government and mismanagement of taxpayers’ money.
Payments have been made without a paper trail, goods – from cars to teachers’ blankets and cutlery – have been paid for but never received, and government officials are ignoring the AG’s recommendations on how to resolve repeated accounting issues.
In 2020, the Treasury recorded $300,599,941 in foreign direct payments on behalf of 16 departments, but there was no reconciliation with the departments.
“However, I found that a number of departments were unaware of these payments and did not acknowledge these transactions.
“On November 15, 2021, five line ministries disputed Treasury disbursements from payments direct for a total of $183,638,970,” the report said.
Payments worth $20.7 million were made to vendors on behalf of the Treasury Department in 2020 but were not uploaded to the public financial management system.
Chiri also said the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) failed to properly account for the millions of dollars that may have been embezzled because its accounts have been in shambles for a decade – since 2012.
Chiri warned that the risk of fraud and theft is high at Zacc, where public money is spent without receipts for payments of goods and services and other major expenses.
