Charlton Hwende, the Member of Parliament for Kuwadzana East and chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), is facing criticism for allegedly misrepresenting the circumstances around the absence of Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary George Guvamatanga from a scheduled parliamentary session.
Hwende implied that Guvamatanga had snubbed the PAC by failing to attend a hearing. However, it has come to light that the Permanent Secretary is officially scheduled to appear before the committee on 23 May 2025, not on the earlier date insinuated by Hwende.
Guvamatanga had, in fact, written to Parliament on 8 May 2025, formally requesting additional time to prepare and compile documentation relevant to the committee’s inquiries. The PAC accepted the request and rescheduled the session accordingly.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube is also expected to address the committee separately to provide insight on broader fiscal and policy matters.
Interestingly, Hwende himself had publicly confirmed the rescheduled date on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account. In his post, he stated:
“Today’s hearing into the Auditor General’s findings on the Ministry of Finance was postponed after the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Guvamatanga, wrote to Parliament and requested more time to compile documents required by the Committee.
The Committee is scrutinizing $400M in Treasury direct payments bypassing line ministries contrary to standard PFMA procedures. The Committee has requested further documents relating to payments made to: Fertilisers Seed Grain (FSG), Ziminya Dam Construction, Ventures Borehole & Exploration, Nyika Kanengoni, RenForm CC, Semwa Dam, Makomo Engineering.
The Ministry will now appear before the Committee on Friday, 23 May at 10 AM. Venue: New Parliament Building, 3rd Floor, Committee Room 15.”
Despite this public clarification, Hwende later made remarks suggesting Guvamatanga was avoiding scrutiny, which drew backlash from within the committee itself.
A PAC member, speaking anonymously, expressed concern over the contradictory nature of Hwende’s statements:
“It was surprising to hear him criticize Mr. Guvamatanga after publicly acknowledging the rescheduled date. As chair, Hwende should be maintaining clarity and consistency. It’s unclear what his objective was — perhaps there was political pressure — but the committee had formally accepted the postponement.”
The source emphasized that while the incident raised eyebrows, it didn’t appear rooted in factional or partisan conflict.