FORMER Kambuzuma legislator Willias Madzimure unsuccessfully filed a High Court application to force President Emmerson Mnangagwa to publish the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) audited accounts for the 2021 to 2023 financial years as required by law.
Madzimure applied for a declaratory order and consequential relief: The failure by Mnangagwa to audit and publish the Zec appropriation accounts for the financial years 2021, 2022 and 2023 is a breach of sub-sections 5, 6, 7 and 18 of the Audit Office Act.
He also sought an order for the President to cause the audit and publication of the Zec appropriation account within six months of the order's date.
Madzimure, who cited the President and Auditor-General of Zimbabwe as respondents, argued that the latter is obliged to audit the national accounts of every public entity and ministry in the country.
He submitted that after examining the accounts of every public body or entity, the Auditor-General shall submit a report of the examination outcome to the minister no later than June 30 of each year.
Madzimure also argued that for the financial years 2021, 2022 and 2023, the respondents failed to audit and publish Zec’s audited accounts as required by law. He submitted that on June 24, 2023, the Auditor-General submitted the 2021 audit report, which does not contain Zec’s appropriation accounts for
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Vote 32.
The Auditor-General presented to the minister a Report on Appropriation and Accounts in Arrears as at December 31, 2021 on March 20, 2023.
Madzimure said the report was an attempt to provide for the gaps arising out and from the original 2021 report, arguing that even the Supplementary Arrears Report for 2021 did not contain Zec’s audited reports.
It was further contended that the Auditor-General completed her report for 2022 in 2023 and it was presented on August 28, 2023, for onward transmission to Parliament.
Madzimure submitted that this was ultra vires section 309(2) of the Constitution, adding that on July 8, 2024, the minister tabled the respondent’s 2023 Appropriation Account Report and the report was supposed to cover the appropriation accounts for 2023.
He said the appropriation account had many missing votes, including the vote for Zec and that the omission of the audited accounts for Zec was deliberate and intentional.
Madzimure said even in the Arrears Report for 2022 contained in the 2023 Audit Report, the Zec report was not published.
However, the President and the Auditor-General submitted that it was incorrect that they failed to audit and publish Zec’s Appropriation Account (Vote 32), adding that for the year ending December 31, 2021, the respondent issued two reports — the main report and the arrear report.
They argued that usually the annual audit report is compiled when an audit is for appropriation accounts, which will either not have commenced or will be in progress because of circumstances beyond its control.
They argued that the audit process for the year ending December 31, 2021, was mainly affected by COVID-19.
The respondents further argued that for 2021 and 2022, the opinion for Zec’s appropriation account was unqualified, saying that for the year ending December 31, 2023, they reported on the status of Zec’s appropriation account.
High Court judge Justice Christopher Dube-Banda, who heard the case, said the Auditor-General misconstrued the character and ambit of the discretion accorded to her office by the law.
The judge ruled that from his analysis of the submissions, the facts show that the 2021 and 2022 Zec accounts were audited and the results published, saying in addition, the 2023 account was, at the time of publishing, being audited.
“My view is that the applicant takes issue with the way the Zec account was audited and published. However, this court cannot, on the facts of this case, interfere with the respondent’s discretion in this regard.
“In other words, this court can order the respondent to audit the account of Zec, but not how to carry out the audit. This court does not have the power to supervise the Auditor-General. It can only interfere where it is shown that the Auditor-General has violated the principle of legality.
“Critical facts on which the case is relied are denied with substantiation. It is for these reasons that the court is not persuaded to exercise its discretion in granting the declaratory relief sought.
“This is not a proper case for the court to exercise its discretion to grant declaratory relief. It is for these reasons that this application cannot succeed.”
He dismissed the application with no order on costs.