Zimbabwe Parliament report on ZINARA 2017-2018 audit- Part 5

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON SPECIAL PROJECTS

293. Special projects were carried out at the special instance and instruction of ZINARA, which dealt directly with the contractors. In addition and in some instances ZINARA generated demand and imposed a construction project on a road authority, that is to say a local authority.
294. ZINARA, is a mere fund set up by the Road Act [Chapter 13: 18]. Nowhere in the Roads Act is ZINARA authorised to substitute itself for a road authority. Nowhere in the Roads Act is ZINARA allowed to engage in special projects.
295. The Committee rejects in totality the half-baked submissions by ZINARA management made through Engineer Kufa that special projects are permitted under Section 13 of the Roads Act. Section 13 allows for no such travesty.
296. In fact Section 13 (3) simply refers to the Road Fund whose function is to “to provide a stable, adequate, secure and sustainable source of funding for maintenance works in Zimbabwe and to ensure the equitable allocation of its moneys between road authorities for the purpose of maintenance works”.
297. Put simply ZINARA is an allocating authority and not an executing entity.
298. That being so, the Committee recommends that ZINARA must forthwith cease the carrying out of any activity other than that of collecting and allocating resources to road authorities.
299. Before the Committee, both the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development and the ZINARA Board assured the Committee that ZINARA had stopped executing special projects.
300. To allay Parliament fears, the Committee directs that the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development must provide a comprehensive report on ZINARA’s activities to Parliament within two months of the date of presentation of this report in Parliament.
301. A total of $US 71487896, 21 and ZAR 31452102, 53 was paid out to contractors. These are huge amounts indeed.
302. It is the Committee’s findings in the main that:

• Contracts were awarded without going to tender and without compliance with the strict provision of the           Procurement Act.
• Contracts were awarded without bills of quantities, so essential in contract evaluation and cost control;
• Contracts were awarded without strict performance timelines  and penalty clauses in the event of non- performance;
• Contracts were awarded without strict performance timelines and the depositing by the contractor of performance guarantees
• In many cases payment was done without any performance and sometimes without even the contractor ever visiting the site;
• There was no monitoring of performance by ZINARA, complaints by road authorities were ignored and payment certificates were processed without the input of the road authority.
• Save for FORIT Contractors, the majority of the contractors did not perform and payments were made without value;
• In some instances, payments were made without any underlying contractual basis or justifiable objective reason. For instance, the additional payment made to MADZ Construction in the sum of US$ 3,650,000 and ZAR 1,192,500; and
• The actions of ZINARA management including (Mr. Chitukutuku and Eng Kufa) were grossly negligent if not fraudulent. They broke every rule of sound corporate governance. There were no checks and balances and there was no oversight.

303. In light of the above, the Committee makes the following additional recommendations;
     • That ZINARA, on a case by case basis with the assistance, where necessary of experts for instance the Zimbabwe Engineers’ Council, and the Institute of Zimbabwe Engineers must endeavor to recover any amounts paid to contractors who did not perform or render services in terms of their contracts. The recoveries should be done within six (6) months of the adoption of this report;
     • That ZINARA must recover all payments made without any underlying contractual basis, without any interim payments certificates (IPCs), for instance, the payments to MADZ Construction of US$3,650,000 and ZAR 1,192,500;
     • ZINARA must, within three (3) months of the adoption of this report, develop financial and human resources manuals, with the aid and assistance of experts such as ICAZ and IPMZ, consistent with international best practice and basic values and principles governing public administration as defined in Chapter 9 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe;
     • ZINARA must evaluate and assess the involvement of all its employees during the period covered by the Audit Report and take appropriate disciplinary action within six (6) months of the adoption of this report; and
     • The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development and indeed the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe must re-examine the mandate of ZINARA, whether or not it has fulfilled its obligations and or its policy expectations and aspirations from its formation and consider whether the issue of roads and roads maintenance is still best served by ZINARA or another agency. In carrying out this evaluation, the Committee recommends that the Government works with experts such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The Minister is obliged to present to Parliament his evaluation and assessment report by end of September 2021.

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