Gold mine billing saga: Two council officials suspended

  Two senior officials have been suspended by the Mudzi Rural District Council (MRDC) following an internal audit that found underbilling of multiple mines and missing mines from the council database, costing the local government millions of dollars in lost revenue. Despite owners' claims that they were paying council bills, over thirty gold mines were missing from the council's database, according to an internal audit report dated March 12 and carried out by a person named T Hondoyachepa. Tendai Musandiriri, the environmental officer, and Royal Roundi, the head of the finance department, are the suspended council officials.  

  Council chief executive Victor Nyamutswa sent a letter dated April 5 of this year to the Mudzi district development coordinator. Since then, the council has filed a criminal report at Nyamapanda criminal Station against the two. "At the regular meeting on March 27, the audit report was approved by the council. The letter stated that the human resources committee was assigned the urgent duty of convening during the same meeting in order to review the audit results and determine the necessary course of action.  

  "On April 3, in accordance with instructions, the committee responsible for human resources and administration convened and decided to suspend Tendai Musandiriri, an environmental officer who neglected to account for every mining company in the district, until further inquiries could be conducted. Additionally, Royal Roundi would also be suspended until further investigations are conducted." A scam involving underbilling and nonbilling of mining was also uncovered by the audit. "The internal audit found that the council's database of miners did not include 25 miners who are registered with the Mines ministry.  

  "From January 2022 to December 2023, the council lost $268,275 in revenue because the miners were never paid. "31 registered miners in the database with bills totaling US$385 000 for the period of January 2022 to December 2023 were not billed by the finance department." The audit also stated that for mines that were not in operation from January 1, 2022 to December of last year, the finance department failed to bill land levy of US$268 787,50. The study stated, "18 registered miners in the database were underbilled by the finance department, and the underbilling totaled US$328 050 for the period of January 2022 to December 2023."  

  In the district, around thirty-one gold mines are reportedly operating without environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports. "In a letter dated March 18, 2021, the environment officer gave the Mining Commissioner approval for the Mining Siting of Works for Green Holsters (Private) Limited. "Public consultation, EIA production fees, and entrance point had not been completed or paid for by the cleared company. Despite having been cleared by the Mining Commissioner, Green Holster (Private) Limited was not even included in the database, which prevented finance from invoicing them for the cyanidation activity they were performing and the land levy.  

  "By not adhering to the entrance point and public consultation protocol, Council missed out on $17,600 in income. "The audit found that finance had submitted incomplete receipts, lacking either the customer's name or payment details. The total amount of the receipts was ZWL$32 122 998,04 and USD$24 067,29, representing the funds that the council had received through direct deposits between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2023," the report stated. Yesterday, Nyamutswa reaffirmed the audit findings and announced the formation of a probe team to look into the situation. "We will keep you informed about the outcome; the matter is still under investigation," he stated. The case was reported using 5868210 as the RRB number.