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Mr Larry Mavima

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
NATIONAL Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) board chairman Mr Larry Mavima says heads will roll at the railways firm should the forensic audit report reveal any acts of maladministration and impropriety by management and staff.

The ailing parastatal is due to release a forensic audit this month detailing how the firm has been operating in the last few years so as to expose loopholes and incidents of mismanagement.

Mr Mavima said the forensic report was supposed to be released last week but has been postponed by about three weeks to give the independent auditor carrying out the exercise enough time to compile a comprehensive report.

“The NRZ forensic audit report is now being compiled which we hope will be given to the Auditor-General’s office by an independent auditor in the next two or three weeks before it is availed to us.

“It is a bit premature to comment on the report and we will only be able to do so when we get it. For now the main thing that we can say is that we will enforce whatever the recommendations will come out of the audit report,” he said.

“And if anyone is involved in any acts of prejudice, he or she will have to face the music.”

The NRZ forensic audit seeks to determine if there are any leakages in the NRZ procurement system, how revenue is being collected from the firm’s estates and properties as well as determining the parastatal’s human resources and staffing with particular emphasis on ghost workers.

In 2014, the Auditor General’s report for NRZ accounts showed that the parastatal’s freight unit was generating annual revenue of $91,2 million, but incurring expenditure of $103 million.

The passenger unit had annual revenue amounting to $3,2 million, with costs over three times more at $10,9 million.

As part of the turnaround strategy, the Government early this month commissioned 31 new state-of-the-art wagons procured from China Railway Rolling Stock Company at a cost of $3 million.

In the recent past, the parastatal has faced operational challenges as its capacity declined significantly, hence the urgent need for recapitalisation
NRZ requires $400 million in the short to medium term for recapitalisation.

The demise of NRZ in the last few years has crippled the viability of several downstream firms across the country.

@okazunga