According to state broadcaster, ZBC, the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) is seeking to license public procurement officers in order to rein in corruption in the public sector.
The authority said procurement officers in government departments and organisations with political authority tended to act with impunity, despite evidence that they were “conniving with suppliers to inflate prices of goods and services”.
PRAZ chief executive Nyasha Chizu said new regulations would focus on increasing compliance, and on monitoring and evaluating contracts. Procuring entities would have to produce mandatory reports, with penalties for non-compliance, he added.
In August 2019, PRAZ said it would start making evaluation visits to procuring entities during the fourth quarter of the year. It planned to carry out a series of inspections on elements such as “institutional set-up; procurement management; establishment and approvals; operational cover and adequacy; records of procurement proceedings standards and practices; procurement planning and procurement budget application; and contract management processes”.
Earlier this month, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) said it had forged alliances with several stakeholders by signing memoranda of understanding with PRAZ, the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe, the auditor-general’s office, and several other national institutions – all part of its fight against corruption.
ZACC chairperson, Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo, said the agreement meant the institutions would be joining forces to fight corruption at a time when Zimbabwe was undergoing a governance assessment by the International Monetary Fund.
This assessment, she said, is part of a national anti-corruption strategy, investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.
