An audit firm engaged to review the purchase of grain from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) by millers says no anomalies were found.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
Grain Millers’ Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) members bought $200 million of maize from GMB at subsidised price of $242 per tonne.
The sole grain procurer had bought the maize, grown under command agriculture, at $390 per tonnes.
According to the audit report done by Baker Tilly Chartered Accountants, who were tasked by GMAZ to carry out the audit on its members, millers adhered to good corporate governance on their allocations.
GMAZ acting general manager, Lynette Veremu said they were obliged to account for every grain they got from the government at a subsidised price.
“We are mindful of our role of providing staple food and at the same time recognising government’s interventions of affording us subsidised maize at the expense of the fiscus,” she said.
“This report has proved that millers have not abused the maize, but have used it to its intended purposes and we are very grateful, as it is also going to give confidence on us to the authorities and the general citizens we serve.”
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Millers bought 800 000 tonnes of maize from GMB.
Veremu said they had already commissioned a similar audit on wheat, which they also procured at a subsidised price.
“We are doing this in order to ensure that the national grain supplies are adequately stocked and this is also in line with section 15 of the Constitution, which guarantees food security. We want also to take this opportunity to assure the nation that despite low and above normal rainfall which some parts of country received, food supply remains stable,” she said.
Veremu said millers had bought in advance wheat valued at $60 million and maize worth $100 million ahead of this year’s harvesting season.
