Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A DAMNING report prepared by the Auditor-General tabled in Parliament this week has revealed deep-seated financial mismanagement and systemic weaknesses in the operations of government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) for the 2024 financial year.
This was revealed in the 2024 report of the Auditor-General on appropriation accounts, finance and revenue statement and funds accounts.
Acting auditor-general Rhea Kujinga revealed a troubling picture of how the transition from the Zimdollar (ZWL) to the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) — effective April 6, 2024 — created widespread accounting confusion.
Ministries were required to produce annual financial statements in the new currency, but failed to apply Treasury translation guidance consistently.
As a result, nearly all MDAs were forced to withdraw and resubmit financial statements, with some revising them up to four times during the audit process.
“The government of Zimbabwe changed currency from ZWL to Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) effective April 6, 2024. The reporting currency for the 2024 financial statements was the ZiG,” the report read.
“Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were supposed to produce financial statements for the whole financial year in one currency (ZiG).
“This meant translating the ZWL transactions to ZiG. To achieve this, Treasury provided guidance to MDAs on how the ZWL financial transactions were to be translated. However, the circular was not uniformly applied by MDAs.
“Nearly all MDAs withdrew and resubmitted financial statements during audit. Some withdrew and resubmitted more than four times.”
Despite being allocated a combined ZiG55,7 billion, the 32 audited MDAs only utilised ZiG43,9 billion — just 79% of the budget — due largely to insufficient cash disbursements from Treasury.
This funding gap, the report said, hampered service delivery and delayed the achievement of key programme objectives.
Ironically, some MDAs received additional budget allocations from the unallocated reserve even though they had not exhausted their original budgets.
Total transfers from the reserve reached ZiG14,5 billion, exceeding the approved ZiG9,5 billion by ZiG5 billion.
“The 32 MDAs were given a total budget of ZiG55 669 686 893 and utilised ZiG43 878 983 672, which is 79% of the allocated budget.
“Most MDAs struggled to fully fulfil their objectives due to insufficient funding.
“The underutilisation of the budget largely stemmed from inadequate cash support by Treasury. This had a negative impact on the attainment of some programme goals and the quality-of-service delivery by the ministries and commissions.”
Kujinga also highlighted a troubling discrepancy in the treatment of direct payments made by Treasury on behalf of MDAs.
Of the US$1,99 billion disbursed in 2024, only US$1,39 billion was properly accounted for in MDA books, leaving a glaring gap of US$597 million.
She said payment arrears had surged across 39 MDAs, amounting to ZiG14,7 billion, US$61 million, ZAR733 000 and €214 709 — with some debts dating back as far as 2021.
Kujinga cautioned that rising arrears “are eroding future budgets and damaging government credibility”.
Another major concern was the presence of “open items” which many MDAs failed to clear before submitting their financial statements.
These entries distort expenditure reporting and complicate budget tracking.
Treasury had earlier issued Circular No. 1 of 2025, directing MDAs to clear such items, but many failed to comply, citing difficulties and lack of technical support.
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