CCC councillors appointed cronies to Rufaro board

Blessings Chidakwa

Herald Reporter

CCC allegedly appointed party loyalists to manage Harare City Council’s Rufaro Marketing company, siphoning funds for party and personal use with only US$66 000 of the US$1,5 million collected in rentals since 2022 handed over to the city council, the Commission of Inquiry into governance issues in Harare City Council heard yesterday.

While Rufaro Marketing, which owns 130 premises across the city and collected approximately US$1.5 million since 2022, US$66,000 was remitted to council, equivalent to just 4,4 percent of what was collected. This blatant mismanagement has raised serious concerns about the use of public resources for partisan gain.

Appearing before the Commission of Inquiry chaired by Retired Justice Maphios Cheda, Harare City Council chamber secretary Mr Warren Chiwawa, who doubles as Rufaro Marketing’s chairperson, said his management told him that the bulk of the money went towards Rufaro Stadium renovations.

The Commission of Inquiry’s evidence leader Mr Thabani Mpofu said the Auditor-General’s report had previously unearthed that money collected by Rufaro Marketing had not been remitted to HCC coupled with new evidence that board members Juma Ulete and Ngoni Chimbalu were ring leaders in diversions.

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“It is correct that CCC Mabvuku Ward 21 Councillor Alexio Nyakudya is renting Hunters Bar in Mabvuku. Vito Bar was allocated to Starman Chamisa (brother to Mr Nelson Chamisa),” Mr Mpofu said.

He showed Mr Chiwawa a video of one of the vandalised bars, Hunters, in Mabvuku rented by Clr Nyakudya where the perimeter wall was tampered with leading to the creation of over 30 tuckshops.