ZESA audit reveals massive corruption
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
An internal Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority investigation has
unearthed rampant corruption involving officials tampering with accounts.
11.07.1209:30am
by Criswell Chisango
The investigation, codenamed Operation Dandemutande (Cobweb), started in
April and has revealed that ZESA officers are deleting accounts with debts
and replacing them with new ones that show no money is owing. A report in
the hands of The Zimbabwean says the officials colluded with account holders
who paid them in cash or kind to destroy their bills.
A memo dated April 15 from an investigating team covering Karoi, Kariba and
Mhangura in Mashonaland West province and addressed to the Field Commander
of the area gives insight into this massive scam thought to be common in all
parts of the country.
The Dandemutande audit, commissioned by Energy Minister Elton Mangoma,
targeted unauthorised rural and urban power connections, illegal substations
and subcontractors.
According to a document compiled after the investigations, some of the
officials alleged to have abused their authority are now on forced leave.
The findings reveal that some of them received bribes for as little as $4 to
cancel the debts that had accumulated.
Other officials accepted bribes running into thousands of dollars, and in
some cases demanded sex from defaulting clients.
Karoi was described as a ‘’haven of corrupt (ZEDTC) workers’’, where
investigators said, customers implicated a ZEDTC worker who was being paid
amounts ranging from $10 to $20 for ‘‘burying accounts’’.
The same employee also received thousands of dollars from clients with huge
bills. He used the Change of Tenancy facility to re-open new accounts that
had been closed.
The investigators’ report said an account with a debt of $2,682.11 was
‘‘buried’’ and reopened in the official’s name, adding that, at one time,
the corrupt official demanded a beast from a client who owed $984.90.
Officials also accepted bribes running into thousands of dollars, received
cattle and in some cases demanded sex from defaulting clients.
In one case, a house was being reconnected every month, with the user paying
the corrupt meter readers amounts ranging from $10 – $20.
Only the senior meter reader has been sent on forced leave, and it was not
clear at the time of going to print why no action had been taken against the
other offenders.
Inside sources revealed that the power utility had not instituted legal
action against the offenders from Mashonaland West.
A senior Zesa official working at the Chitungwiza offices confided to The
Zimbabwean that cases of ‘’burying’’ accounts were rampant.
‘‘What you have heard about in Mashonaland Central is nothing compared to
Harare and Chitungwiza,’’ he said. ‘‘Here, people are buying cars and houses
using the bribes they get. Senior employees are involved.’’
He added that Zesa employees had become cautious after learning about
Dandemutande. Questions sent to the Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira, had
not been responded to at the time of going to print.