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Danisa Masuku
POVERTY is the primary social problem faced by the rural communities of Tsholotsho District despite vast natural resource riches being exploited by various companies failing to pay royalties to the Rural District Council (RDC).
Two companies namely South South Investments and Lyspaw Private Limited Private Limited last month wrote a petition alleging corruption at the RDC yet they owe in excess of $100 000 in royalties for logging timber in the district.
The money is backdated to 2016. Council records and final letters of demand show that South South Investments owe $83 861,84 excluding interest accrued. On the other hand $35 046,24 is owed by Lyspaw Private Limited also excluding interest.
The RDC started demanding its dues last year and South South Investment officials tried luring the council to make exceptions that included giving them a free pass after the expiry of their 5-year contract. However, council refused and the two were on a collision course.
“We sent the South South Investment directors a letter on 19 March 2019 reminding them to pay the money they owe council. They requested a meeting at a hotel in Bulawayo where they asked their contract not to be put on tender because they wanted it to be rolled over. We refused because we have to follow the council tender process,” said Council chairperson Esau Siwela.
Since then it has been a cat and mouse affair.
“They refused to come to our offices. I have chats of our communication as evidence,” added Siwela.
One of the South South Investment directors, Absalom Dube disputed the amount raised by the RDC. However, he admitted that they haven’t paid their dues.
“We don’t owe Tsholotsho RDC $83 862 84 ,I think we owe the council not more than $13 000 00. We have not been paying royalties because we have not been logging since 2017. We don’t have money to finance logging and the other reason at the moment timber is not profitable in Zimbabwe as such we applied for an export licence and we are waiting for it. When we start logging for export we will pay the council what we owe,” said Dube.
One of the directors of Lyspaw Private Limited, Gift Nkomo now a councillor in the district said someone is cooking figures at the RDC because he does not owe as much as $35 000.
“I owed $9 000 bond and paid everything. The RTGS $35 000 figure is very, very untrue. There is someone here who is cooking up figures. There is a Chinese person who was brought by the then council officials who included Themba Moyo. He started harvesting in my place, he was the one who was supposed to pay and I strongly believe he didn’t pay anything,” said Nkomo.
But council chair Esau Siwela said there’s proof on record that the Chinese firm was brought in by Lyspaw Private Limited on a subcontract basis.
He added that a petition written to Minister of Local Government and national housing July Moyo by the directors of South South Investments is an attempt to derail council from claiming its dues. The petition alleged that Principal Director in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Christopher Shumba was “siding” with Siwela.
“Shumba instituted a forensic audit which unearthed this corruption, as a result they were unhappy with that and tried to quash it with that baseless petition,” said Siwela.
A Tsholotsho resident said there’s need to ring fence the timber logging from corrupt companies that leave a trail of destruction.
“It’s routine that four to five truck loads loot this valuable timber without any benefits to the residents of this silent district. Large tracks of land have been ravaged without any thoughts of the environmental degradation of the land where these majestic trees are wantonly cut down without any thought of developing the livelihood of this impoverished district. Walking through its vibrant business centre at this time of the year means navigating carefully because of pools of water in front of shops as well as everywhere,” said the resident.
Online Reporter