THE Auditor-General has unearthed suspected abuse of public funds in well-orchestrated theft and cover-up by the procurement team at the Karoi Town Council in Mashonaland West province.
A report, presented in Parliament by the Public Accounts Committee this week, exposed how public funds were pillaged by council officials.
The report cited a case where the municipality received reams of bond paper instead of safety belts.
"The committee noted that the arrangement to purchase 48 reams of bond paper instead of safety belts was likely a cover-up for misappropriation of public funds,” the report read.
“The cost of the 48 bond paper reams does not add up to US$1 100 paid for safety belts.”
The committee called for an investigation by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.
Mashonaland West Parliamentary Proportional Representative Mutsa Murombedzi said the report exposed procurement fraud at the Karoi municipality.
"In 2018, council paid US$1 100 for safety belts and an extension ladder. What did it receive? It received 48 reams of bond paper,” she said.
- Sakunda hail SA stadia tour
- Rufaro Stadium refurb gathers momentum
- Huge incentives for DeMbare, Bosso
- Chiri vows to stop looting
Keep Reading
“No documentation, no procurement records, just paper. This is not just an accounting error; this is theft.
"The Public Accounts Committee report on the Karoi Town Council reads like a catalogue of corruption, masked as incompetence, excused as oversight and prolonged under the guise of reforms.”
Hurungwe East MP, Chenjerai Kangausaru, said the exposé was disturbing.
"What we are confronted with today is a disturbing portrait of neglect, mismanagement and failure to uphold these sacred values; values upon which the trust between citizens and their government is built,” he said.
“This report is not merely an administrative postscript.
“It is a wake-up call to restore discipline, integrity in our local governance systems, particularly in a town as strategically positioned as Karoi, at the heart of Hurungwe, rich in human potential and public expectation.”
Murehwa South MP, Noah Mangondo, said the findings of the committee exposed weaknesses inherent in most local authorities.
"Karoi Town Council is not an exception,” he said.
“There is a trend in our local authorities which needs to be nipped in the bud, hence the serious recommendations made by the Public Accounts Committee.”
When contacted for comment, Karoi Town Council chairperson, Kudakwashe Chigumo, said they were seized with the matter to uncover what transpired.
“Pending issues will get addressed. We don’t believe in sacred cows. We are getting there and we are getting it right," Chigumo said.
