By Victor Fanuel
HARARE –Finance ministry permanent secretary, George Guvamatanga, is facing renewed corruption allegations after Zanu PF’s Bikita West MP Energy Mutodi, who also chairs Parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee, accused him of demanding kickbacks of between 5 and 10 percent from Treasury payments.
Mutodi made the claims during a heated parliamentary debate on the 2025 national budget this week, alleging that ministries, departments and contractors were being forced to pay Guvamatanga in order to access funds already allocated.
“Contractors, ministries and departments refusing to pay Guvamatanga a kickback of at least 5% after receiving Treasury payments have been denied payments for several months even if the funds are budgeted for,” Mutodi said.
This is not the first time the Treasury boss has faced such accusations.
In 2020, civil society groups questioned his unexplained wealth, while in 2022, a leaked audio suggested that top government suppliers were expected to surrender part of their contracts in kickbacks to Treasury officials.
Mutodi further alleged that Guvamatanga’s alleged personal enrichment has made him “the richest civil servant,” pointing to his reported ownership of more than 5,000 dairy cattle, several mansions and luxury equipment despite earning a government salary below US$1,000.
“Parliament itself has struggled to operate over the past six months after being denied its budgeted funds by George Guvamatanga,” he added.
Mutodi also claimed that a road contractor, Bitumen, was asked to pay US$200,000 for every US$2 million released to it, and that Guvamatanga had threatened him with a “terror team” after learning that the Budget Committee was considering a lifestyle audit and referral to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson, Caston Matewu, said his committee had not yet received a formal complaint but stressed that Parliament would act if the allegations were proven.
“The Public Accounts Committee is concerned when public funds are misused, and if there is such a complaint that public funds were taken and misused inappropriately by the permanent secretary of finance, the answer is yes, we would consider probing the permanent secretary if need be,” Matewu said.
He noted that the Public Finance Management Act provided for disciplinary action.
“When public funds have been misused, we believe that if that happens, we can carry out a special investigation as the Public Accounts Committee and hand that to the appropriate minister.
“In terms of Section 87 of the Public Finance Management Act, disciplinary proceedings have to take place. We will forward our findings to ZACC and the Auditor General,” he added.
Efforts by NewsHub to obtain comment from Guvamatanga were unsuccessful.
Questions sent to him regarding the allegations were not answered by the time of publication.
The allegations come against the backdrop of Guvamatanga’s perceived closeness to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, with critics claiming his political protection has shielded him from scrutiny.
Mutodi himself is no stranger to controversy, having been expelled from Cabinet in 2020 and often accused of using parliamentary privilege to settle political scores.
The latest accusations against Guvamatanga add to suspicions that Treasury has become a critical tool in Zimbabwe’s internal factional battles.
