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Yeukai Karengezeka Municipal Correspondent

AN external audit report of Chitungwiza Municipality has exposed serious financial flaws that saw the local authority failing to produce invoices and receipts for some of its expenditure.

The report for the year 2016, which was made available last month, showed that council had no records to ascertain salary arrears.

It also exposed council’s failure to regularly evaluate its assets.

This comes at a time when the local authority is technically insolvent and failing to deliver services to ratepayers.

Chitungwiza is also facing a leadership crisis prompted by differences between councillors and management.

According to recent audit committee minutes, the external auditor, a Mrs I Musuka from UDCORP, told the committee that there were many loopholes in council’s financials.

It also emerged that suspended Town Clerk Dr George Makunde inordinately delayed tabling the report for discussion with the audit committee despite receiving it from Mrs Musuka in time.

The Urban Council’s Act, compels him to immediately share such a report with the committee.

Mrs Musuka added that the local authority had failed to furnish the auditors with documentation showing the figures council owed its staff at the time.

According to the minutes, council failed to separately account for its bars, houses and other properties.

“She reported that council last revalued its assets in 2009 when the country adopted the use of multi-currency resolution of assets was carried out which is against the accounting standards compelling council to revalue them after every five years.”

The auditor also said infrastructure such as roads was not valued, hence could not be quantified but noted that Government was in the process of doing the valuation.