Zimpapers Logo

Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter
The Judicial Service Commission has emerged as the best run institution for 2014 with a clean financial report reflecting that all its books were in order, a recent Auditor-General’s report has shown.

Out of 27 Audited Appropriation Accounts, JSC came out clean as the only institution under the category “Unqualified, without other material issues”.

Nine of the institutions fell under the category of “Unqualified with other issues”, while 17 were classified as “Qualified”.

A qualified report is one in which the Auditor-General concludes that most matters have been dealt with adequately, except for a few issues.

An auditor’s report is qualified when there is either a limitation of scope in the auditor’s work, or when there is a disagreement with management regarding application, acceptability or adequacy of accounting policies.

In an unqualified report, the auditors conclude that the financial statements of an institution present fairly its affairs in all material aspects.

The opinion embodies the assumptions that the institution observed compliance with generally accepted accounting principles and statutory requirements.

According to the Auditor-General’s report for 2014, the nine institutions classified as unqualified were Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Energy and Power Development, Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Tourism and Hospitality Industry and Information, Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services.

The Civil Service Commission, Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development, Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment and Parliament of Zimbabwe were also listed as unqualified.

JSC, under the leadership of Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, has managed to produce a clean report, an improvement from its 2013 report.

In 2013, JSC fell under “qualified” category, but it remarkably improved to be the best in the financial year that ended on December 31 2014.

Together with its cooperating partners, JSC has set a target to build 30 court houses across Zimbabwe to ensure access to justice delivery for all.

Six new courts have been completed in Nkayi, Victoria Falls, Binga, Beitbridge, Mwenezi and Chivi, while construction of six others has started in Shurugwi, Mvuma, Zvishavane, Murambinda, Goromonzi and Bindura.

A further 18 other centres have been identified for construction of new magistrates’ courts including Nyanga, Lupane, Kezi, Filabusi, Zaka and Bikita.

Other new courts will be built in Kariba, Karoi, Kadoma, Chegutu, Wedza and Mutawatawa.