BY MELODY CHIKONO

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa said the government was busy addressing the issues facing loss-making parastatals and public entities in the country.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Chartered Governance and Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe in Victoria Falls last week, where he served as the guest of honor, Mnangagwa said the problem lay in appointing unqualified people for lead these entities.

He said development was limited by people not pulling in the same direction in terms of public resource management and accountability.

“Almost all of our parastatals and public entities are making losses. We don’t know why. You should be able to tell us, but I think we appoint people to run parastatals based on the fact that we played football together, we grew up together and so on when those people don’t have the right qualifications. for those jobs, ”Mnangagwa said, referring to the accountants.

“We have to have skills, which I know now you have to lead us to the qualities necessary to have a certain job. “

It also happens, year after year, Auditor General Mildred Chiri’s reports have pointed to embezzlements by these parastatals that point to deep-rooted corruption.

Historically, state and parastatal (SEP) enterprises once contributed at least 40% of gross domestic product, but that figure has dropped significantly to around 10%.

The challenges plaguing SEPs included failure to adhere to good corporate governance practices, under-capitalization, leverage, inability to attract and retain skilled human capital, and unsustainable employment costs.

Mnangagwa said the government is determined to make these parastatals become viable by implementing certain statutes that have been put in place.

In 2019, the government enacted the Law on Corporate Governance of Public Entities to provide a legal basis for the oversight and governance of SEPs, including better management of fiscal risk, performance and service delivery. , and responsibility.

“Personal development is limited because not everyone is pulling in the same direction but with follow-up and, if a forensic audit of our resources is applied, it will help move forward,” Mnangagwa said.

“We need to develop a new culture where each of us should be reminded for pointing out the government’s shortcomings rather than hiding corruption.

“Unfortunately, in the past we have seen corporate governance failures in private and public institutes, which border on fraud and crime, which is why the government has embarked on programs to strengthen corporate governance and accountability in public resources, ”he added.

Zimbabwe has over 107 SEPs covering key sectors of the economy.

Last year, the government reviewed the ownership model of PES as part of ongoing reforms to make them more effective and improve their performance for economic growth, stressing the need to strengthen governance frameworks and administrative functions to ensure that they contribute to the growth of the economy.

The Chartered Governance and Accountancy Institute of Zimbabwe has embarked on public sector accounting capacity building having established a working protocol with the Police of the Republic of Zimbabwe to train police forces in forensic accounting, audit and cybersecurity.