HARARE – Two top executives from Zimbabwe’s roads agency have resigned just days after MPs heard how senior managers paid themselves hefty allowances for suits, hairdressers and gym.

Zimbabwe National Roads Authority (ZINARA) acting CEO Mathlene Mujokoro and audit manager Shadreck Mutengabadza are leaving the roads agency, according to board chairman Michael Madanha.

ZINARA will also not be renewing the contracts of suspended CEO Nancy Masiyiwa-Chamisa and the human resources and operations director Precious Murove, he added.

Meanwhile, 19 ZINARA employees have been arrested for fraudulent transactions amounting to US$210,000, according to the agency’s spokesman Augustine Moyo.

“There are some employees with 55 counts, while others are facing up to 70 counts of fraud,” Moyo is quoted in The Sunday Mail. “It has been established that bulk licensing is being abused to defraud ZINARA.”

The alleged fraud involves the licensing of vehicles with arrears and penalties.

Mujokoro’s contract does not run out until 2021, but she said she was serving out a notice period up to July 31 this year, adding in her resignation letter: “The decision has been necessitated by personal engagements that I would want to pursue.”

The pilfering at ZINARA, which collects millions of dollars annually from tollgates and vehicle tax, was revealed in an audit report by Auditor-General Mildred Chiri.

The parliamentary portfolio committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Tendai Biti (MDC, Harare East), last week dragged Transport Minister Joe Biggie Matiza over the coals for failing to act on the corruption.

Chiri’s report revealed how senior managers paid themselves US$4,000 each for gym equipment at their homes – even as they continued drawing monthly gym allowances.

The managers also had a yearly US$3,000 allowance for formal wear each, and ZINARA paid US$60,000 in one year for hairdressers.

The audit also found that ZINARA was paying two CEO salaries to the suspended Masiyiwa-Chamisa and Mujokoro, who was acting.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Kumbirai Hodzi has gone to the High Court seeking an order to freeze former ZINARA CEO Frank Chitukutuku’s property pending investigations into how he amassed wealth of over US$20 million.

Hodzi wants an order compelling Chitukutuku to give a detailed statement to the head of Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) which is within the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s Commercial Crimes Division.

In an application filed on his behalf by Tapiwa Kasema of the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU),  last Wednesday, Hodzi said he suspects Chitukutuku may have acquired his property through criminal activities, hence the need to have the same frozen.

The unexplained wealth and asset freezing order is being sought in terms of Section 37B as read with Section 37H of the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act (Chapter 9:24) and Exchange Control Act) Regulations, 2018 (Statutory Instrument 246 of 2018).

AFU, which was established in terms of Section 27A of the NPA, is tasked with recovering proceeds of crime and making applications for orders to seize any property derived from such criminal activities and forfeit them to the State.

Chitukutuku allegedly acquired 10 vehicles between September 2013 and April last year including two Mazda T35 trucks, a Hino Dutro truck, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Prado, Nissan NP200, Range Rover, Hino Ranger and a Land Rover Discovery.

He also has properties measuring 4,048 and 8,853 square meters in Borrowdale Estate and Glen Lorne respectively.

He also owns an insurance company, Champions Insurance, which has assets worth over US$15 million.

During the period when he acquired the properties, Hodzi says Chitukutuku’s lawful income from his employment and farming amounted to US$8,500 per month.

Additional reporting Gweru Times