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Ms Paurina Mpariwa

Pamela Shumba,Senior Reporter
MPs have accused the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) of overspending public funds by failing to adhere to expenditures stipulated by an Act of Parliament.

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee report presented in Parliament on Tuesday, MPs said local authorities were not benefiting much from Zinara funds.

The committee was examining the findings of the Auditor General on the Appropriation accounts for Funds administered by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.

The funds include the Department of Roads Fund, the New Limpopo Bridge Fund, the New Vehicle Number Plate Revolving Fund and the Traffic and Legislation Fund. Bulawayo South MP Eddie Cross said institutions like Zinara should be monitored to make sure that they operate within their mandates.

“When I look at Zinara, I see an institution which is spending twice what it is supposed to be spending on administration. In the Act, Zinara is supposed to limit its administrative costs to 7 percent.

“Last year, they spent 19 percent of revenue on administration. They have a luxury head office and they have expensive vehicles. This kind of situation cannot be tolerated. These institutions must be brought under State control and they must operate within their mandate,” said Mr Cross.

He said although the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development ordered Zinara to allocate funds to municipalities, the institution was not doing much for them.

“Zinara today is collecting about $300 million a year and that is the revenue that is received by NSSA. It seems to me that Zinara is treated as a cash cow by many ministries and by individuals in Government and it is doing all sorts of things.

“Zinara is allocating $10 million for the municipalities, which is absolutely nothing. Harare by itself used to collect $36 million a year from licence fees and all of this goes to Zinara now. In Bulawayo, we used to collect $9,5 million and we now receive $800 000 from Zinara which is less than 10 percent of what we used to collect,” he said.

The MP also accused Zinara of not communicating with local authorities when working on projects within cities.

“The changes to the road system outside Borrowdale Village in Harare, which have just been completed, were conducted without the permission, knowledge and consultation with the City of Harare. Not even plan approval was sought. This is totally unacceptable.

“In another instance in Bulawayo, the Mayor was driving to work one morning and found a contractor fixing Hillside Road. The road was refurbished from one end to the other. The City of Bulawayo was not consulted, there was no plan approval and no cash transfer to the municipality,” said Mr Cross.
Harare West legislator Ms Jessie Majome implored Parliament to resolve issues of corruption and misuse of funds.

“I want to implore upon this House to resolve issues of mismanagement of public funds at Zinara and other public institutions. We can’t afford to sit in this Parliament and be entertained by endless reports of pilferages. We have to take action,” said Ms Majome.

She also urged the Attorney General’s Office to take a more proactive role in drafting contracts to ensure transparency.

In her report, the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, Mrs Paurina Mpariwa, recommended that the Civil Service Commission (CSC) takes disciplinary action against former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Mr Munesu Munodawafa, for the “pathetic” administration that has prejudiced the ministry millions of dollars.

The committee accused Mr Munodawafa, who is now the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, of not safeguarding public funds and undermining the 2014 annual audit report. – @pamelashumba1