Business Reporter
MUTAPA Investment Fund (MIF) CEO, Dr John Mangudya has told Parliament that the Mutapa Investment Fund could not take off with a clear Fair Value determination before precedent conditions like setting up an operational structure were put in place.
MIF is the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe which was established in 2014 by an Act of Parliament, the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe Act [Chapter 22:20]. Originally established as the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe, it was fully operationalized and renamed Mutapa Investment Fund on 19 September 2023.
The fund was capitalised through the vesting of shares in a number of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and investments under the Government portfolio.
The Auditor General’s report had raised questions on the non-existence of a MIF Fair Value at the time of establishment of the Fund in direct contravention of accounting standards.
But responding to issues raised before the Public Accounts Committee this week, Mangudya outlined the complications characterizing the circumstances around the establishment of the MIF, emphasizing that there was the need to first establish an operational structure.
He said when the MIF was formed there was no take home balances or initial recognition of the assets despite the existence of assets flowing in from already established entities like ZESA Holdings.
“So when the government provided funding for the MIF to evaluate the entities under its purview. We employed a number of independent accounting firms to do the valuations. What we’ve done, Chairman is that we have put in place a management board. This enabled us to do the valuations of all the entities, and we were very happy with the way that it happened, to come up with the numbers on assets value,” he said.
He said the US$16 billion Assets Value of the MIF portfolio provided US$14,7 billion Fair Asset Value according to the latest Audit Report.
