Management crisis hits Tsholotsho RDC

TSHOLOTSHO Rural District Council has plunged into a serious leadership crisis following the resignation of a top official, Mr Lovemore Ndlovu, an internal auditor under unclear circumstances.

The latest development comes hot on the heels of the arrest of the council’s chief executive officer Mr Nkululeko Sibanda and the executive officer of finance, Mr Bryton Malandule by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Committee (Zacc) on December 14.

Sibanda and Malandule are facing a litany of charges bordering on abuse of office. They have since appeared in court and are out on $1,2 million bail.

Mr Ndlovu tendered his resignation on Thursday last week, two days after officials from the Auditor-General’s office conducted an audit on the local authority’s operations.

Sources said several irregularities were unearthed by the Auditor-General’s office, and it is suspected that Mr Ndlovu might have been forced by him to tender his resignation.

Tsholotsho Rural District Council chairperson Councillor Rophas Ndlovu confirmed the developments.

“Our internal auditor indeed tendered his resignation without giving us any specific reasons, save to say his action has been necessitated by a change of circumstances. No other information further than that was given to us,” he said.

Cllr Ndlovu said the officials from the Auditor-General’s office visited the council on January 2.

“They just came in and took stock of equipment that is in our possession and that is what they did,” he said.

In the last audit report on Tsholotsho RDC, released in 2022, the Auditor General’s office red-flagged the council’s financial statements.

“In my opinion, because of the significance of the matters discussed in the Basis for Adverse Opinion section of my report, the financial statements do not present fairly the financial position of Tsholotsho Rural District Council as of December 31, 2019, its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs),” read the report.

The local authority is alleged to have understated the school development levy from its schools by about $400 000.

“The council is empowered by First Schedule paragraph 45 of the Rural District Councils Act [Chapter 29:13] to collect levies, fees and other charges from schools run by the council. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the approved tariff per budget was $3 per child,” read the report.