Zimbabwe’s 2019 budget: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Despite years of promises to clean this up, it never happened. But from January 1, civil servants will be vetted via a biometric system, and will have to produce letters of employment, qualifications and ID. “The above system will ensure that every person being paid by Government for services rendered is properly accounted for.”

Ncube’s budget is stronger on public accounting than previous budgets have been.

He takes on several recommendations, ignored over the years, from the Auditor-General and Parliament’s budget office. One such issue is on the system of allowing government departments to keep a portion of the money they raise, without sending it to the consolidated revenue fund, the central pool of all the money that the government makes.

This system started in the hyperinflation era, when departments pleaded to be allowed to keep their money so that they could use it quickly, as bureaucracy meant that the money would lose value fast. But the Auditor-General has raised red flags over this many times; she has warned that the government may be losing millions due to mismanagement of these retained funds.

In fact, in one report, in 2016, she revealed that some ZRP stations were not even banking earnings from traffic fees. ZINARA had also misused millions in retained funds. A report last year by Parliament’s budget office said up to $1 billion might have been raised by departments, but the money never reached central government.

Ncube says there is a “fundamental weakness” in the retention scheme and all revenue must now go directly to the consolidated revenue fund. He will, however, need to cut out the bureaucracy to make sure that funds go quickly where they need to go, or else there would be disruptions to government operations.

Ncube even now restricts the use of government vehicles; civil servants can no longer use cars outside office hours for private business.

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