Martin Muleya
Odzi Sub Catchment Council chairman Josephat Sakarombe is embroiled in a financial scandal after an internal audit discovered that he allegedly received double payment of ZWL 8 168 550.00 for the world water day and staff meeting in allowances, that was held in March this year.
Documents in possession of The Midweek Watch showed a payment was made of ZWL8 168 550.00 in Sakarombe’s CBZ account 27037730015 on 27th and 28th of March 2024.
However, Sakarombe indicated to the Sub Catchment manager Brian Mamvura that he did not receive the said amount and a second transaction was initiated and paid with the same amount on 28th March 2024.
Mamvura is alleged to have initiated and made a payment for the second transaction using the previous catchment council chairman’s authorization key. He (Mamvura) is the sole custodian of initiating and authorizing a transaction in the Central Africa Building Society (CABS) account where the fraudulent transaction took place.
The matter came to light when accountant Nyasha Mahlava noticed the anomaly while doing reconciliations on 1st April 2024.
Contacted for comment Sakarombe initially agreed receiving a double payment and later made a climb down by hinting that he had since returned the money, before referring questions posed by this reporter to manager Mamvura.
“It is true that I received a payment of ZWL8 168 550.00, but I have already returned back the money to the company. The money I was being paid for was for the world water day that was held in Mt. Darwin as allowance. I was never alerted about the double payment, I only became aware of it when the auditors came and I was directed to reverse the transaction. When I went to fetch my bank statement for March 2024 that is when I realized that there was a double payment.
In his letter to the director internal audit, Sakarombe in his defense conceded that when the second transaction was done he had not noticed that the first transaction had gone through. He also went on to say he failed to realize that he had received his allowance twice as he is a businessman who has different clients who deposit money in his account every now and then.
“I hereby write this report to clarify the issue of ZWL8 168 550.00 which was deposited in my account twice. When the deposit was done it did not reflect in my account which resulted in me notifying the office which acted by depositing for the second time.
“I never noticed that the first transaction had gone through. As a business person I do have different clients who deposit money in my account. At the same time the accounts person saw it and chose not to tell me the anomaly for reason best known by her,” read the letter.
Odzi SubCatchment Council manager when reached for comment on the said transaction, revealed that he was not aware of the transaction.
“I am not aware of that. Write a document to your enquiries,” said Mamvura.
However documents seen by this publication indicate that Mamvura wrote a letter to the director internal audit at Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) on 25th October 2024 in which he also claimed to have not been aware of the bank statement omission.
“Clr Sakarombe indicated a technical failure on the transfer and it was redone. I am informed of the double payment after the verification on his bank statement account. I requested for verification from Mrs. Mahlava. I was not aware of the bank statements omission or received the report,” read Mamvura’s letter dated 25th October 2024 which he signed.
The incident has raised questions about the financial management of the Odzi Subcatchment Council and the accountability of its leaders. This is a story that has sparked a heated debate about corruption and financial mismanagement in Zimbabwe’s local government institutions.