VINCENT MHENE IN GWERU
An internal audit at Gweru City Council has revealed that several point of sale (POS) machines currently in use are not offloading funds into any of the known council bank accounts, Business Times can report.
The POS machines are linked to unknown bank accounts, potentially officials’ personal accounts, demonstrating the depth of the rot and corporate malfeasance at Gweru City Council.
It is now feared Gweru City Council could be losing millions in potential revenue.
The investigators are now working on quantifying the extent of the financial prejudice.
The exposure could be a tip of the iceberg and the malpractice and plunder could be happening in other city councils across the country, observers have said.
The council also wants to rope in auditors from the Ministry of Local Government.
Gweru Mayor Josiah Makombe told The Business Times that the council`s audit team discovered that some of the POS machines in use were not feeding funds into the known council accounts.
“Our audit team has been trying to ascertain what is happening to most of the POS machines, and we have discovered that there are some POS machines that are operational but we cannot trace which bank accounts they are offloading the funds that are swiped using the machines.”
The POS scandal has come amid allegations of massive corruption and fraud at Gweru City Council.
It also comes at a time when Gweru City Council has also approached the Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission to investigate allegations of corruption, abuse of office and illegal land allocations, among other poor corporate governance practices.
The development comes a time when the cash-strapped local authority is struggling to clear its debt to various service providers, owing them ZW$132m as at September 30, 2020, while billing revenue for the same period amounted to ZW$241m against a target of ZW$822m.
Makombe said there were serious financial leakages within the system that needed to be investigated.
“These are some of the issues we are trying to work on.
As policymakers, we might not have the knowledge and access to this kind of information hence the need to have an audit to unearth the extent of leakages and fraud,” he said.
Makombe said the city council has written to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works requesting an audit team to look into its finances.
“The letter that we wrote to the Minister (Local Government Minister July Moyo) is urgent and we have said we need the auditors as soon as possible and we hope he will avail the audit team as soon as possible to look into these issues,” said Makombe.
The revelation has drawn alarm from residents, who said such alleged financial misappropriations reduced confidence in the ratepayers.
Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association Executive Director Cornilia Selipiwe said a massive shakeup was needed at the town house.
“This is shocking if it is actually true that this is happening then we have serious problems.
We had a budget consultation meeting, where, as residents were informed that not a single cent was deposited in a fire levy account, yet we paid the levy so probably it’s these POS machines,” said Selipiwe.
He added that such reports diminished residents’ confidence in meeting their rates obligations to the local authority.
Makombe has vowed that his administration would leave no stone unturned in fighting corruption.
Eight city council employees in the parking division were last week nabbed by a municipal crack team over fraud and corruptio allegations.
Makombe said they are currently going through a disciplinary process, and would likely be fired if found guilty adding that the evidence collected against the eight employees was overwhelming.
The local authority last year, through the parent ministry, carried out a lands forensic audit that uncovered serious anomalies in the sale of land, such as illegal land sales and allocations.
