Chronicle Editor
Mkhululi Ncube, Chronicle Reporter
AUDITORS have been called in to look into the affairs of Nkayi Rural District council in Matabeleland North province amid allegations of malpractices against senior council officials.
This comes after the chief executive officer Mr Zimbabwe Ndlovu recently suspended council’s treasurer, Mr Lawrence Mudimba for alleged misconduct.
Mr Mudimba is said to have been coming to work late and knocking off too early.
Council chairperson Cde Jameson Joshua Mnethwa confirmed the move by the local authority to bring in external auditors.
“We have called in external auditors to examine our books; we are expecting them any time before the end of this week,” he said.
While council sources claimed there was rampant corruption at the RDC, Cde Mnethwa said they were treating everything as rumours until the audit is done.
“Let’s wait for the auditors to do their work, I don’t know how long they will take but everything that has been happening in the council will be clear once their report is out. Legally it might affect me to talk about unconfirmed accusations without proof,” he said.
Cde Mnethwa said in the past, council has been very poor in collecting its revenue which led to workers going for months without pay.
“When we were presented with the financial books we queried a number of issues that include how former councillors are still owed allowances, council staff are owed months’ salaries and other obligations to various bodies, that is when we realised that the council was relaxing its revenue collections when there are huge amounts to be collected from various clients.” said Cde Mnethwa.
He said the Zanu-PF led council which was elected last year has initiated the process of collecting all amounts due to council and some debtors have started responding while others have come forward to make payment plans.
On the suspension of Mr Mudimba, Cde Mnethwa said: “The treasurer’s suspension was fast tracked while we were still trying to investigate some issues happening within council.
“We received two letters from the treasurer and the human resources officer with counter allegations.
“The human resources officer was accusing the treasurer of coming to work at 10am and knocking off at 2 pm.” he said.
Cde Mnethwa said the treasurer also wrote his own letter accusing the chief executive officer Mr Ndlovu of various allegations of misconduct and malpractice, the letter was copied to the district administrator Ms Matildah Mlotshwa who informed the provincial administrator Ms Latiso Dlamini.
He said after this they were forced to institute hearings against the treasurer and bring in auditors.
“The workers’ committee is sitting today for a hearing against allegations that led to the suspension of the council treasurer. We will wait for the outcome from this committee.” said Cde Mnethwa.
—themkhust_ncube
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