Lawyers finalise NSSA audit assessment

PHILLIMON MHLANGA

The Thabani Mpofu-led team of lawyers is finalising an independent study on the damning forensic audit report into the operations of cash-rich National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and are expected to recommend the way forward soon.

The forensic report is said to have implicated current and former government officials.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Sekai Nzenza said yesterday the report had exposed serious financial irregularities at NSSA and she wants to recover millions of public funds that were misused at the pay-as-you-go scheme.

“Together with the Attorney General’s office, we identified four key areas in the report that is investment, corporate governance, human resources and IT. What I can tell you is a huge amount of money was misappropriated and I want to recover that. The legal experts led by Advocate Thabani Mpofu are finalising their study of the report and fairly soon we expect to from them,” Nzenza told Business Times on the sidelines of a post Cabinet briefing.

A forensic audit was undertaken by BDO Chartered Accountants to cover NSSA’s operations during the period January 1, 2015 and February 28, 2018.

NSSA has in the past been rocked by a series of scandals ranging from imprudent investment decisions, poor corporate governance and management delinquency.
Nzenza said criminal charges would be filed against those found on the
wrong side of the law.

NSSA was established 1989 in terms of the NSSA Act, has always been a source of controversy with a number of senior managers being fired over mismanagement of funds.

It has investments in banking, insurance, agriculture, property, equities and hospitality sectors with investments of over ZWL$1 billion. However, the authority has been accused of making bad investment decisions after it invested over ZWL$30 million in weak
banks that went belly-up.

Despite its cash outlay, NSSA has been giving pensioners ZWL$80 monthly.

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