By Patience Maganzo
Harare, Zimbabwe (News Of The South) The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) is corporate body that has been tainted with acts of corruption over the last couple of years. Even though their mission statement reads, ‘We value the quality of being honest and morally upright in all our behavior, operations and activities’, the former CEO Mr. Chitukutu, who is currently under investigation for fraud could not practice what they preach.
While he was getting paid less than $10 000, Mr Chitukutu acquired properties worth over 20 million USD which prompted an application by the Prosecutor General, Kumbirai Hodzi for an unexplained wealth and asset freezing order. The list of properties that he acquired from 2011 include;
“Farm Pride (Private) Limited company, Champions insurance company, a multi-million dollar house situated at Belmont farm, residential properties in Borrowdale estate and Glen Lorne, Harare, two Mazda T35 trucks, a Hino Dutro truck, Toyota land cruiser, Toyota Prado, Nissan NP200, Range Rover, Land rover discovery, five tractors, a 10 tonne UD truck, six state of the art fowl runs, 4 x 200 litre PVC water tanks as well as several structures at his Belmont farm.”
High Court judge, Justice Erica Ndewere ordered a freeze of his assets prior to the settlement of Mr. Chitukutu’s case, who is required to account for his assets in 30 days.
However this is not surprising since an external forensic audit by Grant Thornton Zimbabwe that was conducted late last year uncovered massive corruption, tax evasion and corporate governance rot at the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA). The auditors accused Chitukutu of presiding over unprocedural recruitments of senior staffers at Zinara, which means he had full control of the company. The audit revealed that senior managers including Mr. Chitukutu, allocated themselves huge unapproved allowances and bonuses several times a year. These audits unearthed that the senior managers each received Christmas hampers worth US$10 000 which were not part of the stipulated benefits among other shenanigans. The audit revealed that the board was getting board fees without withholding tax deductions and there by prejudicing ZIMRA of large amounts of revenue.
Moses Juma, the former acting chief executive, was the only one who was arrested following the audit report, but was released however after the intervention of a senior government official.
Surprisingly, the report findings were swept under the carpet and this shows how deeply rooted corruption is. Many government officials have also been alleged in partaking in acts of corruption at ZINARA including Dexter Nduna, a Chegutu West member of Parliament, who was accused by Themba Mliswa during a parliament hearing.
As a country we are still far from eradicating corruption in our system, as it seems to be profoundly embedded. Though it is refreshing to see the law take its course on Mr. Chitukutu’s case, one cannot help but wonder what the state will do with his assets. Will they be auctioned and channel the money to our dilapidating health sector, or will history repeat itself when it comes to accountability.
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