HARARE – Auditor General Mildred Chasi and Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Sekai Nzenza are in deliberate breach of the law for failing to submit the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) audit report to parliament, the Speaker Jacob Mudenda said on Wednesday.
The Speaker is now demanding answers from the Auditor General.
“Section 12 (1) and (2) of the Audit Office Act does compel first the minister responsible to table the report within seven days, failure of which the Auditor General should table the report through the Speaker of Parliament,” Mudenda said on Wednesday in reply to a question by Temba Mliswa (Norton/Independent).
“I will engage the Auditor General to find out why there has been such a delay contrary to the constitutional provision and the Audit Office Act particularly in terms of Section 12 of that Act. We should be able to report back by next week if not earlier.”
Nzenza called a news conference on May 22 to confirm that she had been handed the findings of an audit into NSSA – but did not release it publicly. She said she was sending the report to lawyers who would “collate, examine and unpack and then advise” if anyone should be prosecuted.
Mliswa regularly alleges industrial scale corruption at NSSA, which administers pensions and other social security schemes.
The MP said while the minister was legally compelled to release the report to Parliament within seven days of receiving it, she had not done so for four months.
“I’m upset that the Attorney General who sits in cabinet and advises cabinet on legal issues does not raise this in cabinet. The Leader of Government Business who is the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs (Ziyambi Ziyambi) equally does not pick this in cabinet. So, what information are they giving to the President? So it means the President is being misinformed even on legal issues, which is quite alarming, quite dangerous,” Mliswa charged.
