Kuwadzana East Member of Parliament and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Charlton Hwende has been accused of political grandstanding after appearing to mislead the nation by suggesting that Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary George Guvamatanga had refused to attend a parliamentary hearing.
However, it has since emerged that Guvamatanga is scheduled to appear before the committee on 23 May 2025 — not yesterday, as was wrongly implied by Hwende.
Guvamatanga, after receiving the committee’s invitation, wrote on 8 May 2025 requesting more time to compile documents required for the committee’s specific inquiries.
Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has also been summoned to appear before the committee to address broader policy issues.
Ironically, Hwende himself had announced the new hearing date on his official X (formerly Twitter) account earlier yesterday. In the post, he wrote:
“Today’s hearing into the Auditor General’s findings on the Ministry of Finance was postponed after the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Guvamatanga, wrote to Parliament and requested more time to compile documents required by the Committee.
“The Committee is scrutinizing $400M in Treasury direct payments bypassing line ministries contrary to standard PFMA procedures. The Committee has requested further documents relating to payments made to: Fertilisers Seed Grain (FSG), Ziminya Dam Construction,
Ventures Borehole & Exploration, Nyika Kanengoni, RenForm CC, Semwa Dam, Makomo Engineering
“The Ministry will now appear before the Committee on Friday, 23 May at 10 AM. Venue: New Parliament Building, 3rd Floor, Committee Room 15.”
A fellow PAC member who spoke on condition of anonymity expressed concern over Hwende’s contradictory statements, saying they were unsure who the MP was trying to impress:“We are shocked by his outburst because as chairman, he had already announced on X that the hearing would be on 23 May after Guvamatanga’s request was accepted.
“Maybe someone pushed him to go all out against Guvamatanga, but the request was formally made and honoured. He then contradicted himself by attacking Guvamatanga and claiming he was facing censure. It appears political, but not necessarily tied to opposition or Zanu PF politics,” said the MP.
