How government is preying on its own companies

Broke and unable to fund its operations, the government is allowing ministries to raid parastatals under their care for money.

The case at the Ministry of ICT, Posts and Courier Services – which used money from the Posts and Telecommunications Regulation Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) and state owned mobile firm NetOne to buy condition of service vehicles for Minister Supa Mandiwanzira and his deputy Win Mlambo – reflects the extent of the crisis.

Documents seen by The Source reveal how the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) authorised Mandiwanzira to use POTRAZ and NetOne money, even though no subsequent approval was received from the Ministry of Finance.

Across government, parastatals last year forked out at least $12 million dollars to fund Ministries that were failing to get money from Treasury for operations. None of the payments were authorised by Treasury.

This raises questions about whether government is sincere about its promise to reform public enterprises, when it is itself leeching off the same struggling companies.

The ICT Ministry case shows the extent to which broke Ministries are increasingly relying on the state owned enterprises they are supposed to administer.

In 2015, ICT Ministry secretary Sam Kundishora wrote to cabinet secretary Misheck Sibanda seeking approval for the purchase of two vehicles for Mandiwanzira, a Mercedes Benz E300, a condition of service vehicle for ministers, plus a utility vehicle.

“At present the Honourable Minister has no official vehicle since the one he had been using from the time he was Deputy Minister was involved in an accident whilst he was out of the country,” Kundishora wrote.

“Meanwhile, POTRAZ and NetOne have undertaken to provide the requisite bridging finance to fund this critical and pertinent need. We would reimburse the money advanced as soon as treasury avails funds for the same.”

Approval was granted last July by deputy cabinet secretary Ray Ndhlukula, on condition that POTRAZ and NetOne would be reimbursed. It appears the vehicles were then bought, before the required treasury approval.

Armed with OPC approval, the Ministry on 28 July wrote to treasury, seeking approval for the purchases.

“Please be advised that cabinet authority for purchase of the same has since been granted by the Office of the President and Cabinet while POTRAZ has undertaken to provide funding…Given the above background, the ministry accordingly requests for treasury to reimburse the funds when they become available.”

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