Marshall Bwanya
Harare—Over US$7,6 million allocated for poverty alleviation under a 2016 Government of Zimbabwe–OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) loan might have gone to waste due to weak oversight and failure to train beneficiaries, the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG), has revealed.
OFID, the development finance institution of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), funds projects in developing countries to boost socio-economic growth and reduce poverty.
Zimbabwe accessed the loan, which was agreed on 23 August 2016, for the OFID Poverty Alleviation Project in three provinces — Bulawayo, Masvingo and Manicaland — with the ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Enterprise Development being responsible for its implementation and evaluation.
The primary objective of the project was to expand access to socio-economic services and create income-generating opportunities for targeted households.
In the 2023 audit report which was recently made public, the OAG found that the ministry failed to monitor 24 funded projects or deliver on-site training to recipients, in direct violation of the 2017 OFID project guidelines.
“The ministry was not carrying out monitoring and evaluation…The provinces indicated that they did not have information of the beneficiaries and the projects,” the report stated.
The audit noted that key project details were only provided to the OAG after the audit had commenced.
Without proper oversight, several initiatives collapsed, resulting in wasted expenditure.
In Masvingo province, Bukuso Cooperative – which had received US$50,000 for poultry, piggery and goat farming – abandoned all activities due to lack of training and technical guidance.
Mujo Holdings, granted US$18,000 to establish a gold mill, never completed the project.
Ark Life Private Limited was awarded US$30,000 for a broiler venture that never started, while Moriah Cattle Fattening failed despite receiving US$40,000.
An online search failed to yield any results of the digital presence of these contracted companies, bringing into question, their credibility.
Across all 24 sampled projects, beneficiaries did not receive basic training in project management or record-keeping before funds were released.
“Beneficiaries embarked on projects without adequate training… leading to project failure and misuse of funds,” the OAG reported.
The ministry attributed its failure to monitor the projects to staff resignations, poor coordination between head office and provincial teams, lack of vehicles, and inadequate budget allocations.
“There was no complementary budget from the ministry to support monitoring of these project activities,” the audit quoted the ministry as saying.
The report warned that, without consistent monitoring, “financial resources may not be used for the intended purpose and the objective of the project may not be achieved.”
It recommended that the Public Debt Management Office centralises beneficiary data and ensure all recipients are trained before receiving funds.
The ministry acknowledged the findings and pledged to strengthen both business management and technical training for beneficiaries.
The OAG, a constitutional agency, conducts annual audits of government ministries, departments, state-owned enterprises and local authorities.
Its reports are a key accountability tool, often exposing mismanagement, weak governance and irregular expenditure in public institutions.
Over the years, the public auditor has unearthed numerous transgressions in public entities and keeps complaining that the institutions generally fail to adopt its recommendations.