IT looks my friend Toronto has become a regular whipping boy for the state-owned enterprises. He
quips about a protector turned predator. (You will remember how last time he got short-changed by
ZESA). This other day he was narrating to me his woes at the hands of yet another parastatal-
TelOne. The router of his WiFi had apparently been struck by lightning. He had then taken the
gadget to the TelOne offices for inspection. The technician plugged in the router and was looking at
some ammeter-like instrument and brashly told him the gadget was dead and could not be repaired.
The only solution was to buy a new thing, he was told. A new router would separate from him a
good US$69. He had been advised the routers were on sale at the TelOne sales office. Before he had
reached the sales counter, a good young Samaritan – who had also visited the offices caught up with
him and tipped him that exactly the same gadget could be obtained for no more than US$35 at a
certain mall in town.
Toronto took heed and had visited the said mall. Much to his delight (and disgust), he got a brand
new router for even less- US$30. The young sales lady even confided to him that TelOne regularly
ordered their stocks of routers from them. He returned to the technician to have the gadget
configured-but was careful not to reveal to the technician that he had got it elsewhere at less than
half the price charged by TelOne.
More surprises awaited him. On his way back home, he passed by a downtown electrical repair
shop. A short conversation had ensued during which the electrician had tested his supposedly
damaged router. The old router was in a perfect working condition. What was most likely damaged
by the lightning was the power cable supplying the router and not the router. More startling
revelations: The TelOne technician either had lied that the old router had been damaged by lighting
or he was plain incompetent-and neither possibility boded well for the reputation of the company.
My friend and I were easily swayed to believe in the former.
The company’s official intention was to fleece the public. Talking about underhand dealings in quasi-
government organisations, there is one municipality in one of the provincial capitals in
Mashonaland, where a scam has gone unnoticed for a long time. The local authority hires out water
bowsers. Clients make their payments at the municipal offices and get receipts. Now the smelly part
of the transaction: The client is further required to provide diesel for the tractor towing the bowser.
Alternatively, the client is asked to pay in forex to some officer based at the municipal workshop in
the industrial area for the purchase of the diesel-and they do not get a receipt for that!
In a move to wean off state-owned parastatals, the Government has come up with a policy which
requires all – state assisted organisations- state universities included – to come up with income-
generating projects for self-sustenance. This policy is undoubtedly well-meaning. It takes off a great
deal of pressure off the fiscus. Prior to this directive, the parastatals – most of which are not so
productive – were gobbling much of the national budget. The new arrangement meant more funds
would now be channelled towards such critical areas as health and education.
However, much as this arrangement is commendable, it is imperative that it be attended by close
supervision. First and foremost, all the income-generating proposals from all the state-owned
enterprises should be subjected to rigorous scrutiny for uprightness. Clearly, there is no modicum of
integrity when TelOne buys internet routers at much less than US$30 and resells them to the
unsuspecting public for US$60. Secondly, assuming the income-generating proposal has passed the
integrity test, the revenue flowing from these projects need to be properly accounted for, otherwise
monies invariably end up in the wrong pockets.
No year passes without most of the parastatals getting slapped with damning reports by the Auditor-
General. In her report dated 15 June 2022, the Auditor-General lambasted state-owned enterprises
for “poor governance”. Of particular note, the report singled out “unsupported expenditure and
weak internal controls’. Besides being reactive the Government, through its relevant agencies, needs
to exercise closer oversight of its enterprises and even conduct spot checks in order to unearth
irregularities which are committed in the parastatals on a daily basis.
