Council run schools in Harare have come under spotlight from the Auditor General’s office for employing under-qualified bursars with some reportedly in possession of only two ordinary level passes.
According to the 2016 Auditor General report on local authorities, an inspection of primary school bursar’s personal files revealed that some did not have evidence of adequate qualifications.
“An inspection of primary school bursars’ personal files revealed that some bursars’ personal files had no evidence of adequate qualifications.
“I was not able to verify whether the bursars are adequately qualified for their positions since there was no evidence of academic qualifications in their personal files,” said the Auditor General Mildred Chisi.
She added that from the inspected files, Bursars from Warren Park 5, Glen Norah Infill, Budiriro 2 and 5, Kuwadzana 2, 7 and 8 as well as Lytton primary schools only had five Ordinary levels passes.
Westlea Primary school bursar possessed two Ordinary level passes while Glen View 9 only had Ordinary level English pass.
According to Chiri, this was against City of Harare’s requisite qualifications for the bursar position which is 5 O’levels, Diploma in Accounting and two years relevant experience.
The implication of employing under-qualified bursars is “potential misstatements due to errors in the accounting records,” Chiri noted.
In response to the Auditor General’s report, the City of Harare management promised to attend to the issues of maintaining full records of bursars in their personal files.
