Victor Muchemwa

Zimbabwe receives more than US$400m in grant aid on an annual basis with most of it coming from bilateral and multilateral agreements between the government and foreign governments.

Donor aid is channelled through UKAid, USAid, EU, UN Agencies and others. For implementation, these agencies implement programmes through various models such as;
Implementation by international NGOs (INGOs): These are development partners with a lot of expertise and experience in delivering programmes across the globe and most of them with headquarters in the West. Some are even private companies in their homeland but registered as NGOs when implementing charity programmes overseas. Some leverage programmes from own fundraising activities such as Oxfam GB. The risk level of operating through INGOs is considered lower than local NGOs.

Implementation by local NGOs: Local NGOs have better knowledge of local environments but suffer from lack of capacity and experience in managing large grants. Unlike INGOs which can be asked to return funds if there are disputes or misuse of funds, most local NGOs literally get away with murder whenever funds are abused. The most common method of redress is donor fund pull out. A school of thought or movement in support of local NGOs is that using local organisations and systems is a sustainable model as donor funds are not around forever! There will come a time when donor funds will dry up with locals expected to take over.

Partnership between INGOs and NGOs: A preferred model of using leveraging organisational expertise from INGOs in capacity building local NGOs. The model however suffers setbacks of being more expensive and there have been instances where capacity building goes on forever. A capacity building INGO may prefer to keep operating and providing capacity building services as a source of income, if no capacity gaps exist, then they are out of income and jobs.

Most common risks in the NGO sector

 Procurement (tenders, staff recruitment, goods procurement)

 Donor Requirements (tax, unbudgeted expenses)

 Abuse of cash resources (travel allowances, cash to beneficiaries, foreign currency arbitrage opportunities)

 Abuse of goods in kind (goods not reaching intended beneficiaries or misuse)

What makes grants management complex

In a typical NGO, there are support departments such as finance, procurement, human resources and administration. Support departments help programme teams which include monitoring and evaluation. Our focus is on the grants management department which is responsible for oversight of funds channelled to support partners.

The grants management unit is sometimes a standalone department or can fall under the finance department. When it is a standalone department, there are several benefits such as working closely with programme and supporting teams. As a strategic unit, it has its own strategies, resource allocations and is subject to strategic review. Major roles include budgeting, donor compliance, risk management, monitoring and evaluation and partner management.

The department works effectively when structured like an internal audit department, but few organisations have independent grants management departments. The most common approach is to place grants management functions in the finance department. Once placed in finance, the grants management functions will suffer from being consumed in financial operations such as financial and management reporting, taxation and other administration functions.

The language becomes internalised financial management, creating loopholes in grants management oversight. The major reason for incorporating the department into finance is financial considerations but trouble often follows when funds misappropriation start to emerge from partners’ financial mismanagement.

Grants management require more than financial management and some of the key skills include:

Strong programme development and management.

Strong risk analysis and management especially tracking of key macro and micro risks. Strategic partnership management including capacity building. All of these key skills are not necessarily found in the finance department. The finance department can do a good job of partner visits and voucher verification, but this is low-level risk management which does not include strategic management, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building.

A number of local NGOs made headlines when funding taps where switched off by donors and a closer look shows lack of strong grant management approaches. These include weaknesses of donor agencies and INGOs and local NGOs themselves… it’s a complex world.

Some of the leaders of the local NGOs cited clean external audit reports having been issued, but in the complex world of grant management, audited reports are not enough. External auditors do not adequately review this field because they are mostly finance professionals with little appreciation of programme management, monitoring and evaluation and complex donor requirements. They should be worried that after issuing unqualified audited reports, donors move in and withdraw funding due to gross funds misappropriation.

Recommendations

Every organisation involved in grant management should critically assess its business model and capacity.

Grant management strategies:

Do you have a strong grant management strategy? Are you involving partners, auditors and other stakeholders in the development of a grant management strategy? Do you have grants management manuals and systems? (few organisations have this in place). Grant management systems: Do they have more than finance skills in grant management? How are they developing skills? Do they have strong induction programmes for new personnel? Do they have strong performance management systems for the function? Are you benchmarking your departments to world best practice?

Grant management skills: How are you developing and reviewing grants management skills? Do you have strong in-house grant management inductions? Are you allocating sufficient resources in the development of grant management skills?

Risk management skills: Do you have strategies to review partner risks? Are you involving internal and external auditors or risk management professionals? Are you reviewing and analysing trending risks in the economy? Are grantee partners, donors and beneficiaries involved? Are auditors’ role simply carrying out external audits at the end of the financial year? How is monitoring and evaluation involved in risk management?

Capacity building skills: Do you have a strategy for identifying capacity gaps and plugging them through formal capacity-building? Do you have resources allocated for building capacity-building skills? Are you reviewing capacity-building initiatives? Do you have case studies of successfully completed capacity-building initiatives?

Donor funds are taxpayer funds and they monitor their use and whenever reports of abuse emerge, they mostly respond with calls for their cut. With most Western governments dealing with their own economic challenges, the calls to cut donor funding are getting louder and this is increasing the pressure for transparent and effective use of donor funding. While some gaps in grant management are due to lack of resources and knowledge, there are also cases where gaps are deliberate in order to facilitate fraudulent activities and this is not surprising given Zimbabwe’s ranking on the corruption index.

It’s therefore important for organisations handling donor funds to critically analyse their grant management strategies, systems and skills with a view to strengthening them for more donor funds abuse means increased lack of trust and a cut in funding or closure of organisations.

By NQOBANI NDLOVU

ZANU PF Matabeleland South’s underfire youth chairperson Washington Nkomo on Saturday survived an ouster bid after his colleagues raised several allegations against him.

Nkomo’s hold onto the post was hanging by a thread ahead of the Saturday provincial meeting attended by national party chairperson Oppah Muchinguri to discuss, among other things, the chaos bedevilling the province.

A vote of no confidence passed by the party’s Matabeleland South youth disciplinary committee against Nkomo last Thursday was on the table.

The committee accused Nkomo of bringing the party’s name into disrepute through corruption, extortion and creation of parallel structures in the province.

However, Nkomo lived to fight another day after his issue was not brought up for discussion. He confirmed in an interview on Tuesday that he remains the youth league chairperson.

“I am still the chairperson for the youth league in the province,” Nkomo said.

Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu on Tuesday said he had only read Nkomo’s supposed suspension in the Press, saying his department had not received the petition against him.

“I have just been reading about it in the Press, but it has not come to my office,” Mpofu said.

Last week, Matabeleland South youths demanded that Nkomo returns all party assets.

“We kindly request the party to order the withdrawal of party assets in the hands of Nkomo as this is bringing the name of the Matabeleland South youth league into disrepute, especially our branded party vehicle, which is being used for unscrupulous purposes,” the youth league said in their petition.

They accused him of being part of a US$12 000 extortion scam involving a Shangani miner during which President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s namewas used, resulting in the arrest of four party members.

Nkomo faces another charge of grabbing mining claims in West Nicholson and Shangani, also using Mnangagwa’s name to commit the act.

BY CHARLES LAITON

Local businessman Wicknell Chivayo, who is set to answer to US$10 000 bribery charges alongside his company Intratrek Zimbabwe, has approached the High Court seeking an order to stay the criminal trial proceedings pending a determination of his application for review.

According to Chivayo, he filed an application for review at the High Court after a Harare magistrate dismissed his application for exception to the bribery charges when the trial commenced in August this year. Apparently, he said the State had indicated its intention to proceed with the trial on October 28, 2019.

“This is an application for interim relief suspending the commencement of our criminal trial before the second respondent (magistrate one P Maturure Ncube) pending the review of the second respondent’s ruling dismissing our exception to criminal charges against us,” Chivayo said in his affidavit.

In the current application, Chivayo, Intratrek Zimbabwe and former Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) board chairperson, Stanley Kazhanje, are cited as applicants, while Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi and magistrate one P Maturure Ncube are cited as respondents, respectively.

Kazhanje was this year tried and convicted on the same charge and sentenced to three years in jail for concealing a US$10 000 transaction with Chivayo’s company. He is, however, now out of custody on $1 000 bail pending appeal.

In his affidavit, Chivayo said Kazhanje has also moved for the quashing of the charges on the basis that the manner they were framed was contrary to law, adding “central to his (Kazhanje) motion was the failure of the State to indicate whether the US$10 000 was an inducement or reward”.

“I thereafter excepted to the charges together with the first applicant (Intratrek Zimbabwe). The third applicant (Kazhanje) similarly excepted to the charges. The basis for exceptions was that the facts alleged by the State as further particularised did not disclose an offence and, in the case of the third applicant’s further submissions, the charges had formal defects,” Chivayo said.

“Success for the first and second applicants (Intratrek and Chivayo) would be success for the third respondent as the cause of complaint went to the root of the matter. Equally, success for the third applicant would be success for the first and second applicants as the competence of the charge also founded the root of the proceedings.

“It will be noted that the second respondent in his decision, did not address his mind to the questions of whether the facts alleged disclosed the offences alleged or whether the charges were competently crafted.”

The matter is pending.

BY ALLIEWAY NYONI

A SIX-YEAR-OLD Zvishavane boy who disappeared on Monday morning on his way to school was yesterday found dead in a bush with his body stashed in a sack along the Masvingo-Zvishavane Highway.

Midlands provincial police spokesperson Inspector Joel Goko confirmed the tragic incident and said investigations were still underway to ascertain the cause of death.

In an interview, the mother of the boy, Takudzwa Siwanza from Isaya Park suburb said she made a police report after the head at Makwasha Primary School informed her that her son, Elohim had not reported to school.

“He went missing on Monday after I made enquiries from the school head why my son had delayed coming back home only to discover that he had not reported to school that day. We reported the matter to the police and we could not find him until I received news that the body of a boy in school uniform had been found in Lot 4 area near Masvingo road, only to discover it was my son,” the distraught mother said.

The same child was once stolen while he was still nine months old before the criminal was apprehended by members of the public in the town’s Mandava light industry area, Siwanza added.

A police detective, who attended the scene where the body of the boy was found, said he must have been strangled to death.

“The head was swollen and the boy suffered strong bleeding from the nose and head. It also seems he was strangled to death. I suspect it must be a case of ritual murder and his murderer might have wanted his blood before dumping the body in a sack on the roadside,” he said.

Meanwhile, a 28-year old Zvishavane man, Sylvester Sibanda has been remanded in custody for kidnapping an 11-year-old pupil (name withheld for ethical reasons) on October 9.

Sibanda is alleged to have tied the girl with a red cloth before carrying her to the top of a mountain adjacent to Zvishavane’s Escrow and Makwasha area.

The girl managed to escape while Sithole was relieving himself and she alerted members of the public, leading to the accused’s arrest.

Zvishavane district schools inspector Tranos Mahlokozera urged parents to accompany their children to school to ensure their safety.

BY FARAI MATIASHE

Construction of houses for Cyclone Idai survivors in Chipinge and Chimanimani has just started ahead of this year’s rainy season, Lands and Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri has said.
Addressing journalists on the sidelines of a workshop on climate resilient investment in reconstruction and development in cyclone-affected regions of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe in Harare yesterday, Shiri said the resettlement areas and new infrastructure will be able to withstand future weather hazards, including tropical storms.

“This land is deemed to be reasonably safe from the adverse effects of climate change including flooding which was the main challenge in the Chimanimani area. The houses are designed to withstand the effects of weather,” he said.

Shiri said the government was working in partnership with China to construct houses for Cyclone Idai survivors.

According to the Department of Civil Protection, there are about 30 000 people from Cyclone Idai-hit areas, who are staying in tents and they risk to be washed away if there is flooding during the coming rainy season.

The department has blamed government for delaying the approval of plans for resettlement.

But Shiri said inadequate resources had been a setback to the resettlement exercise.

“Yes, there has been delay here and there. Resources are not easy to come by. As far as plans are concerned, we are in charge of rural resettlement. We will do our best to ensure that some of the plans are approved. Some have already been approved,” he said.

Home Affairs deputy minister Mike Madiro said the disconnect between producers and users of climate change information needed to be addressed because currently the information was too technical and difficult to consume.

He said effective early warning systems, including seasonal forecast, was of paramount importance for people to prepare for weather hazards, but long-term weather predictions should also be incorporated.

Meanwhile, World Meteorological Organisation Africa programme manager Ernest Afiesimama said southern African countries were still not prepared for weather disasters despite threats of extreme temperatures.

“All the countries here (Southern Africa) are not fully prepared for the next year disaster. 2019 is the hottest year. A rise in temperatures will result in tropical storms,” Afiesimama said.

“We still have events that started in January. I am not a prophet of doom, but when we have high temperatures, we can expect more severe and extreme weather.”

He said after assessing the continent they discovered that Africa was vulnerable to climate change, yet governments lack coordination with their weather departments and agencies.

BY CHELSEA MUSAFARE

UNITED KINGDOM-BASED Zimbabwean businesswoman Maureen Mbondiah-Mandipaza on Wednesday said it was important for women to shift their mindsets if they were to identify and effectively utilise business opportunities available in the country.

Speaking at a Press conference in Harare, the Momentors Women in Business and Empowerment Forum founder said they were empowering local women to be business minded.

“We have come to train women who are struggling, help them to think differently because everything starts in the mind,” she said.

Mbondiah-Mandipaza said it was unfortunate that a lot of foreigners where identifying and taking advantage of business opportunities in the country at the expense of locals.

“Women’s Bank is offering women money for them to start their businesses but due to lack of knowledge, we do not know how to get access to the money. By so doing, our chances of being better individuals in life are being taken by outsiders,” she said.

Momentors, which has also been in the healthcare sector for over 20 years, is also supporting women with sanitary wear through Wadzanai Trust.

“Girls miss out in school due to lack of sanitary wear. Women in prison do not have access to sanitary pads. As women, therefore, we want to help and stand up for the girl child for sanitary wear to be free like condoms so that girls do not miss the opportunity to learn and be better business individuals in life,” she said.

Speaking at the same event, Botswana-based businesswoman Caroline Mashingaidze said there was need for women to secure opportunities just like their male counterparts through transforming mindsets.

“We are trying to work with Zimbabwe to place women in a position that they can be independent. We want to shift women’s mindsets to think in terms of business,” she said.

BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO

THE search for Africa’s cultural ambassador at the Zuri Africa-Global finals initially scheduled for Harare on November 1 has been moved to December 14 in Kenya after the organisers failed to secure the buy-in of government and other local stakeholders as the country battles an unprecedented economic meltdown.

Zuri Africa-Global founder and director Ryan Nush confirmed the development yesterday, saying Zimbabwe has proved incapable of hosting the inaugural event that would have afforded the country an opportunity to market its organic culture.

“Sadly, the competition is now being hosted by Kenya with more than 22 countries participating. National director for Kenya is now the host partner. We failed to get the right support from the Ministry (of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation) and financial support. There is no way we can sell our country without adequate resources,” he said.

“Zimbabwe has no resources to support this noble African initiative. We did all we could, we even begged but we are not ready as a country.”

Nush disclosed that South Africa was the initial choice before they settled for Zimbabwe since it is home to the founders.

“Our major challenge was lack of financial and technical support from relevant stakeholders,” he said.

Nush said their national director, Eutychus Chamunorwa, was searching for funds to support Zimbabwe’s queen, Patience Nomazulu Gumbo’s bid to clinch the African title.

“The national director is in charge of soliciting funds to cover travelling expenses for the country’s queen. That has to be through sourcing for sponsorship,” he said.

Participating countries include Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Zambia, Togo, South Africa, Rwanda, Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Eswatini, Tanzania and Lesotho.

Despite the cancellation of the Zuri Africa finale on November 1, a fashion show will be hosted on the day in partnership with the Zimbabwe Fashion Council.

“We are now making use of the day to officially launch the programme — have a fashion show and talent night. National directors mostly from countries represented are coming to witness and grace the Africa launch in Zimbabwe,” Nush said.

“Up-and-coming talent in arts will be showcased and musician Batsirai Shasha and Savanafrique are scheduled to perform.”

BY CHARLES LAITON

Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi has approached the High Court, seeking an order to forfeit four vehicles recovered from former Tourism minister Walter Mzembi and three other officials which they had allegedly converted to their own personal use following the hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly in 2013.

In his application for a civil forfeiture order, Hodzi, through his principal public prosecutor, Tapiwa Kasema, cited Mzembi, ex-Tourism ministry permanent secretary Margaret Sangarwe and two others namely Susana Kuhudzai and Aaron Mushoriwa.

In his founding affidavit, Kasema said the vehicles in question – three Ford Rangers and a Tata Xenon double cab – were bought using money provided by Mbada Diamonds and Mimosa Mining Company which both donated US$815 000 and US$33 626, respectively.

According to Kasema, the vehicles were supposed to have been surrendered to the Tourism and Hospitality Industry ministry at the end of the UNWTO General Assembly, but Mzembi and his colleagues, contrary to government procedure, took permanent possession of them.

“The deliberate failure by the officials to surrender the vehicles to the ministry and converting them to their personal use after the completion of the UNWTO General Assembly was theft of trust property as defined in section 113 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act,” Kasema said.

“For the foregoing, I can conclude that Walter Mzembi committed a serious offence which rendered the vehicle a tainted property and subject to forfeiture to the State,” he said, referring to the other three vehicles.

Apparently, criminal charges against Mzembi’s colleagues were withdrawn before plea as the State felt it could not proceed to trial in the absence of the main culprit, who in this matter is said to be Mzembi, who has been declared a fugitive from justice.
The matter is pending.

By Harriet Chikandiwa

Economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West have hit ordinary citizens and are having a negative impact on efforts by the country to promote peace, a National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NRPC) commissioner has said.

“The issue of sanctions and how they have impacted the social and economic welfare of the generality of Zimbabweans is of great relevance to us,” commissioner Geoffrey Chada said in a statement.

The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Harare over alleged human rights abuses, electoral theft and failure to uphold the rule of law in 2001, allegations which the authorities have denied.

The EU lifted sanctions in 2014, but maintained an embargo on the late former President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace. However, the US has maintained sanctions on 141 individuals and firms linked to the Zanu PF government, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, senior party and military leadership.

In March this year, US President Donald Trump extended the embargo by another year, citing Mnangagwa’s failure to implement political reforms.

Chada described sanctions as a declaration of economic war, warfare by economic means and gun boat diplomacy.

“Economic sanctions applied at international level like the sanctions against Zimbabwe involve restrictions on trade, financial transactions, and communications between the target state and the sanctions states. They fall in the intermediate class of collective measures, being more severe than diplomatic or political measures such as votes of protest, votes of censure, expulsion, or suspension from international bodies and non-recognition.”

For the NPRC, he said, peace involves the existence of freedom and human rights and without peace there can be no development.

“Peace guarantees full existence of freedom and human rights; peace guarantees free political participation in the public affairs of the nation, peace guarantees national social and economic development, without peace there can be no development,” he
said.