Chronicle Editor
Midlands Bureau Chief
TONGOGARA Rural District Council treasurer Ms Sithembiso Ndiripo has been fired from work with immediate effect after a disciplinary committee found her guilty of gross incompetence and failure to protect council funds.
According to a dismissal letter dated February 23 and written by the acting chief executive officer Mr Piniel Chiguvari, Ms Ndiripo failed to implement and advise council regarding the failure of the Pastel accounting system leading to financial losses.
Mr Chiguvari said it was also concluded that Ms Ndiripo was grossly incompetent by approving a salary advance to one employee using an unapproved form for payment processing.
“The committee noted that as a treasurer, you discovered the challenges of the Pastel package at council a long time ago but you did not inform your superior about those challenges for appropriate action to be taken. It was noted that as the most senior finance person in the organisation, you had a duty to advise your superior to stop payments for the Pastel programme which was not working.
Council kept on losing money which was being paid to Omni Africa when Pastel was not working. This was wasteful expenditure which could have been avoided had you been vigilant,” said Mr Chiguvari in the dismissal letter.
Ms Ndiripo was also accused of failing to come up with a system of allocating council fuel resulting in irregular allocations to council workers.
Mr Chiguvari said the committee concluded that Ms Ndiripo was grossly incompetent and inefficient in the execution of her duties as treasurer.
“After considering your submissions in mitigation and the complainant’s submissions in aggravation, the committee ruled that your misconduct was so serious and warranted a dismissal as it went to the root of the relationship between the employer and the employee,” he said.
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