- Finance Ministry claims Auditor General "misdirected" reporting, should have acknowledged government's existing knowledge and actions
- Permanent Secretary argues the issues highlighted were already known to the government
- However, there are concerns as some car dealers who were paid for goods that were never delivered have seemingly disappeared
Harare- Following a concerning 2023 Auditor General's report that exposed high-level corruption in government parastatals, the Finance Permanent Secretary, George Guvamatanga, has claimed that the Auditor General's Office made an error or misjudgment in their reporting on how the government was paying for goods that were never actually delivered.
On July 22nd, Guvamatanga and Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube met with Parliament's finance committee, which was seeking answers on the matter. The committee is chaired by Clemence Chiduwa, a former Deputy Finance Minister.
Guvamatanga stated that "the auditor should have told the public that the government knew about it and was acting, and there should be no need for this excitement about cars."
This suggests the government is attempting to downplay the issues raised in the Auditor General's report.
The tone of Guvamatanga's comments implies the government is defensive and trying to shift blame away from its own failings, rather than taking full responsibility for the problems identified.
“By highlighting it as a finding, I can safely say the Office of the Auditor General misdirected themselves.
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t have highlighted them, but they should have said government discovered that there were undelivered vehicles,” said Guvamatanga.
While Guvamatanga criticized the Auditor General's reporting approach, arguing they should have provided more context around the government's existing knowledge and actions, the Auditor General's report still revealed significant issues.
The report showed that in some of the raised issues, government officials did not respond adequately while in other instances blamed currency decay.
The Auditor General's report appears to have valid findings, despite the Permanent Secretary's criticism of their reporting approach.
A more constructive response focused on remedying the issues would be expected from officials.
Some dealers, like Solution Motors, claimed to be closed, while other garages were reported as closed and untraceable. If these dealers have disappeared, it's unclear how the government will be able to hold them accountable.
The report also found that many car sale deals were signed as far back as 2021, with some spanning up to 8 weeks. However, as of May 2024, nothing had been delivered to the buyers.
This suggests the government has been slow to address this issue, as it has dragged on for weeks and even years.
Corruption appears to be a deep-rooted problem in the country, adversely impacting the general welfare of citizens, blocking foreign aid, exacerbating debt, deterring foreign direct investment, and worsening the country's business risk profile.
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