The Procurement Regulations Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz) is auditing Chipinge Town Council (CTC) after the local authority reportedly constructed a cemetery toilet for US$17 000, which sparked outrage on social media platforms.
A four-member team began the audit on Tuesday last week and reportedly concluded it on Friday.
CTC acting secretary James Mutemera confirmed the audit, saying it is not only targeting the ablution facility.
“Yes, they (Praz) are here, and they are doing compliance audits, but not only for the cemetery,” he told NewsDay.
The Praz audit comes after Chipinge residents called for an independent audit and invited the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commision to investigate the local authority over the money used to construct the toilet, describing the amount as exorbitant.
A Praz team member who declined to be named confirmed that an audit is being conducted at CTC.
“We are here at Chipinge Town Council, doing a special audit regarding procurement processes. This comes after we received reports that there was a toilet that was constructed for US$17,000.
So we will dig in to see whether this was properly done in terms of procurement processes. If there are any irregularities, we will present a report to the relevant ministry for further action.”
The tender was awarded to Gwenzi Hardware in March of this year on a fix-and-supply basis.
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