A time for action

The report by the parliamentary portfolio committee on Public Accounts on the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA) should be met with revulsion.

In its findings, the committee said there was no corporate governance at ZINARA, that there were no systems. It said the roads authority had no manuals and no sound procedures for the running of the organisation.

“The Committee makes the finding that ZINARA was totally and absolutely misrun and totally mismanaged. As a result, there was gross abuse of resources, no corporate governance culture and no corporate compliance,” the report said.

The committee recommended that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission must investigate the abuse of office by current and former ZINARA officials implicated in the report.

While the recommendation by the committee is tantamount to closing the stables while the horses have already bolted, it is a step in the right track if Zimbabwe has to weed out governance deficits in parastatals and state owned entities — if the advice is taken on board.

For far too long, parastatals and state owned entities have been the feeding troughs for politicians and senior bureaucrats united by the maxim “it’s our time to eat”.

This has seen these entities becoming piggybanks where one withdraws money as and when they feel fit. There are safeguards in place.

Where was the board when ZINARA was turned into a Tom & Jerry? The board could have been compromised since they got Christmas hampers and ipads.

Where was the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development when it was a free for all? Obviously the bureaucrats were on holiday, hope not bankrolled by the ZINARA.

It will be difficult to explain to grandchildren how someone with a certificate in Religious Studies became the custodian of ZINARA finances.

The situation at ZINARA could be happening at other state owned entities.

What is required is a roots and branch approach to remove the “it’s our time to eat syndrome”.

The portfolio committee recommended that disciplinary action should be taken within a period of six months upon adoption of this report, against all concerned employees at ZINARA from senior and middle management to lower case staff that were operating during the period under discussion.

Where employees have left or resigned, it recommended the institution of criminal proceedings for abuse of office or corruption. 

The committee went for the jugular: the current and former board of directors who were unlawfully paid allowances outside the terms of reference and contracts should be asked to refund and pay back what was paid to them within six months of the adoption of this report. In the event of failure, legal action should be instituted, it recommended.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa says his administration has zero tolerance for corruption.The legislature spoke by pointing out the malpractices. The ball is in the court of the other arms of government to act. It’s no longer business as usual.