70pc Of Karoi Councillors In The Dock For Corruption

TWENTY-FIVE years after then Local Government minister John Nkomo kicked out the entire Karoi Town Council for poor management while describing them as a bunch of jokers, the local authority has failed to shake off the clownish behaviour tag amid chaos and scandal that has seen seven out of 10 councillors in the dock for corruption.

Five top managers have also been suspended and some arraigned before the courts facing various graft-related allegations that have seen the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) officials probing allegations of abuse of office, among a litany of other allegations.

Nkomo then said the council was being run towards a wrong direction and while change was expected after a chaotic quarter of a century, the local authority plunged into further disorder last week after acting town secretary Tongai Namusala was dragged to court facing abuse of office charges and allegedly victimising housing director Sibongile Mujuriki.

Namusala is the town council’s substantive finance director.

Mujuriki was suspended on allegations of fraud after she failed to return travel and subsitance allowances advanced towards a workshop in Kwekwe that was later postponed.

Zacc officials have literally camped in Karoi investigating this and several other alleged cases of corruption and abuse of office.

Zacc documents show Namusala is accused of buying a commercial stand in 2010 without going to tender.

He was arrested and granted ZW$50 000 bail.

While Namusala was being dragged to court, acting housing director Admire Jimu was also charged for allegedly giving false information.

He was granted ZW$20 000 bail.

The duo join other senior managers, including town secretary Wellington Mutikani who was suspended last year with full benefits over alleged abuse of office charges when he bought materials for his Champion Lodge to repair a burst Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) main pipe that was irregularly built underneath the lodge.

Mutikani faces four counts of criminal abuse of office as a public officer as defined in section 174 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

The first charge is when council failed to notify Ultimate Land Developers as the winners of the tender and for the company to submit bid bonds and price validity as a condition stated in the minutes for developing Kubatana residential stands.

In February 2017, council floated tender number KTCENG/02/2017 for the servicing of Kubatana residential stands in Karoi.

Four companies, namely Ultimate Land Developers, Plan Infrastructure, Goodhope Land Developers and Hellow Project, responded to the tender and submitted their bids.

‘‘Accused person acted contrary to his duties and awarded a tender to Goodhope that came second in the selection process. Mutikani favoured Goodhope Land Developers,’’ the state alleges.

On the second charge, Mutikani is accused of abusing his office when he was allocated two commercial stands in Lake View Karoi.

Stands numbered 6268 and 6259 were allocated to him without a council resolution.

The state outline reads: ‘‘According to layout plan for Lake View low-density the in-fill was instructional reserved for a crèche and church.

After getting the stand accused went on to dig a foundation with the intention of building a house against the approval of parent ministry. According to Section 49 (3) (4) of Regional Town and Country Planning Act [Chapter 29.12], no person shall use any reserved land for any other purposes other than the purpose it was reserved for.’’

On the third charge, Mutikani allocated a commercial stand without going to tender.

‘‘On 23 June 2020, Mutikani authorised allocation of stand number 7880 Boundary to Cleopas Gara. According to the approved layout plan, it is a commercial stand that can only be allocated through tender. Also on 20 May 2021 Mutikani authorised allocation of stand 8676 to Ganizani Chimtokoma who is Ward 2 councillor without going to tender. By doing so, accused showed favour to Chimtokoma and disfavour to other beneficiaries who could have participated in the tendering process,’’ reads the state outline.

On the fourth count, Mutikani allocated a commercial stand to Champion Logistics where his son is director.

‘‘Champion Logistics were not on waiting list as required and there was no tendering process.

“Ironically, Champions Logistics joined the waiting list on 20 September 2021 after they had been allocated the stand,’’ the state outline reads.

Mutikani was granted ZW$50 000 bail and is still appearing for routine remand.

Five other Karoi councillors were charged for abuse of office charges.

They were arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission under case number HRC 79/11/21.

The five are Stewart Jena (59) who is council vice-chairperson and ward 3 councillor, Nicholas Murwira (55) ward 9, Rangirayi Hungwe (48) ward 10, Thomas Mbiri (47) ward 5, and Kenston Kumponda (51) ward 8.

The state, led by Pazvichaenda Valeri Munakira, alleges that the five acted in common purpose when they made a resolution on 4 November 2021 to increase the travel and subsistence allowance by 100%.

They also passed a resolution to increase out-of-pocket allowances to US$40 remitted at the interbank rate.

The state alleges that the resolution passed was in violation of the Urban Councils Act [Chapter 29.15] that provides that payments of allowances is subject to approval by the parent ministry and that payments to councillors should not exceed such sum as may be prescribed.

‘’The resolution passed by the accused persons was in violation of ministerial circular 12/20 and Treasury circular 13/20 which determine the amounts of allowances payable to councillors,’’ the state outline charges read.

After passing the resolution, four of the accused persons travelled to Harare for three days on full board, getting ZW$101 541 each instead of the government rate of ZW$24 750.00.

The state further added that the actions of the accused persons were contrary and inconsistent with their duties as public officers.

‘‘They showed favour to themselves by increasing allowances payable to them without approval from ministry of Local Government and Public Works.”

They were each granted ZW$2 000 bail.

Ward 2 councillor Ganizani Chimtokoma (47) is facing criminal abuse of office under Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

It is the state case that Chimtokoma was allocated a piece of land stand number 8393, Lake View at a 40% discount in 2016.

‘‘Accused person did not pay for the stand but went on to sell to Godknows Murambiwa for US$12 000. Murambiwa went on to pay US$4749 to council that he was supposed to pay. Accused person acted contrary to his duties as a public officer as he sold a stand that he should not have sold and made a profit while prejudicing Karoi Town Council,’’ the state papers read. He was granted ZW$2 000 bail.

According to some insiders, managers are one of Karoi’s major letdowns.

‘‘Our own managers are not working as a team in Karoi. There is no zeal to work for council but self-enrichment. As council we have failed to recruit better and skilled workers due to arrogance among top managers who are at each other’s throat plotting to dislodge each other. Many of them were not recruited on merit hence failure to work as a team,’’ said one councillor speaking on condition that he is not named.

He added that Mutikani delayed in flighting advertisements for major vacant posts, which has hampered progress in the town.

‘‘Mutikani kept saying resolutions were being acted upon, but there were no results. On equipment purchases, he delayed everything and was sluggish and this has derailed council operations. We are in a mess as a town,’’ added a source.

Matsika confirmed that the lack of heads of department has affected service delivery.

‘‘We are geared to see an end of poor service delivery in our town. Of late recycling of workers has also compromised services, that’s why councillors resolved that from now on council will recruit personnel who are 35 years and below to kick-start better workmanship,’’ Matsika said.

Karoi has had no town planner for almost 15 years.

Curse of death

As fate would have it, town engineer Oswell Mazvimbakupa succumbed to Covid-19 in June last year and his post is still yet to be filled.

Another official, Abel Rwere, who was the building inspector, passed on early this year while human resources manager Gabriel Zuva-Chirinhe died on the spot early this month in a road accident. Accountant Simba Shava is in hospital following the same accident. NewsHawks