ZWL$38 MILLION GONE: ZIMBABWE OFFICIALS STEAL TRAVEL FUNDS WHILE CITIZENS SUFFER

In Zimbabwe, corruption is no longer hidden. It is open. It is loud. It is protected by silence at the top. Once again, government officials are abusing public money, and no one is being held responsible. The Auditor-General’s latest report has exposed how officials are pocketing travel allowances with no proof that they ever travelled. This is not just bad management. It is organised looting.

The report for the year ending 31 December 2024 was handed to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and Parliament last month. In that report, acting Auditor-General Rheah Kujinga revealed that officials claimed a total of ZWL$38,288,135 in travel and subsistence allowances — without writing down what time they left, where they went, or when they returned. Just imagine that. No details. No proof. But full payment.

This goes against the rules of the Public Finance Management (Treasury Instructions) of 2019. The law clearly says that before a payment is approved, the officer must check if it is a proper use of public money. The claim must be complete and correct. But in this case, it was not. It was empty, and still, the money was paid out.

This carelessness — or rather, this deliberate abuse — creates space for fraud. If no arrival and departure times are written, then how do we know the person travelled at all? What if the trip was fake? What if someone claimed for a five-day trip but only travelled one day? That’s how the money disappears. That’s how public funds become private gains.

The government’s own audit team gave a simple recommendation: make sure claim forms have proper details in future. The management responded by saying, “We acknowledge the finding. Staff will be encouraged to include departure and arrival times.” That’s it. Just “encouraged.” Not “forced.” Not “punished.” Just a soft word, and the looting continues.

This is why Zimbabwe is not moving forward. While teachers go unpaid, hospitals run out of medicine, and pensioners beg in the streets, government elites are swimming in money they never worked for. Every stolen dollar is a wound to this country. It is a betrayal of the poor. It is theft from the future.

ZWL$38 million could have done so much. It could have fixed boreholes in rural areas. It could have paid for thousands of textbooks. It could have repaired broken roads and bought hospital equipment. But instead, it was handed over to people who treat public money like their own. They know nothing will happen to them — because corruption in Zimbabwe is protected, not punished.

The silence from Parliament is dangerous. They received this report. They read it. And still, they said nothing. This proves that some of them benefit from the same broken system. That is why we, the people, must speak. We must demand change. We must demand jail time for those who steal. We must demand a full list of names — who claimed what, and for which trip?

Zimbabwe needs more than reports. It needs justice. The people are suffering. The country is broke. And the only way forward is to stop the looting. If those in power cannot protect public money, then they do not deserve to lead.

We must keep asking: where did the ZWL$38 million go? And who will be held responsible?

Until those questions are answered, Zimbabwe will continue to bleed.