Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
GOVERNMENT has intensified investigations into alleged corruption at Gweru City Council.
A combined investigation by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc), The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) and the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works officials has been launched.
Zacc has called on whistle-blowers to send tips so that no stone is left unturned.
Zinara auditors are looking at how funds for roads rehabilitation programmes in the city have been used while the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works officials are looking at land sales.
There is a hive of activity at Town House where the teams are asking for documents and interviewing the city’s managers and councillors.
Gweru mayor Councillor Josiah Makombe confirmed the development.
The probe teams are coming at a time when GCC has suspended eight employees from the city parking department for alleged corrupt activities which resulted in an unconfirmed number of vehicles enjoying free parking prejudicing the cash-strapped local authority of thousands of dollars in potential revenue.
The eight are undergoing disciplinary hearings at the town house.
At the same time, it has been established that there are point of sale machines used for revenue collection which are active but the local authority can’t ascertain which bank account the money is being offloaded to.
The council is choking under a $250 million debt — a negative development that has affected service delivery.
One of the issues that Zacc has said it would be acting on is the issue of a councillor who allegedly parcelled out stands to his two minor children, one aged five years. Zacc will also look into allegations of corruption that came out from a forensic audit and the service delivery report.
Clr Makombe said they had written to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works for auditors do a forensic audit on the council’s books.
“Our audit section realised that we have POS machines which are active but can’t ascertain which bank account they are offloading to, and we have a lot of leakages which are deliberate and well-co-ordinated, hence the need for such an audit. For our parking so far, eight employees have allegedly been caught. I can’t say much because the issues are already before some disciplinary processes. But I can confirm that there is overwhelming evidence of corruption which is also coordinated,” he said
Clr Makombe said it is possible that the council could be losing millions of dollars to the syndicate which includes cashiers and accounts personnel.
“So, we asked the Ministry to send us auditors for a forensic audit of our books and get to the bottom of this because we are afraid, we will continue losing cash through leakages,” he said.
Had all motorists paid for parking, defaulters clamped and revenue well accounted for, council could have realised millions of dollars to cover its ballooning salary arrears and other obligations to improve service delivery.
But it has emerged that the severe leakages could be directly benefiting certain individuals.
Council charges US$1 per hour parking. If a light vehicle is clamped, the owner has to part with US$15.
Zacc spokesperson Mr John Makamure said the commission was investigating systems and operations at the local authority.
“Our strategy is a combination of investigations for prosecutions and systems and compliance reviews in order to plug loopholes for corruption. People should also come forward and tell us areas to investigate or matter they want investigated,” he said.
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