adminMidlands Correspondent
GWERU mayor, Councillor Hamutendi Kombayi yesterday accused council management of being involved in corrupt activities. Addressing a full council meeting at the Gweru Town House, Clr Kombayi queried the non-presentation of an audit report for the past two months; a development he said could be a precursor to malfunctioning systems within council.
“I’m not happy as mayor because the order of corruption has reached alarming levels within the council management. We don’t have an audit report for the past two months and I don’t know how council can continue to operate like this in a situation where there’s no transparency,” he said.
“There’re a lot of underhand dealings which are going on such as the reconnection of defaulting customers who’ve been disconnected while some council employees are pocketing monies levied on vendors. I hope the audit team is going to move in swiftly so that it does its job.”
Chairperson of the audit committee, Clr Moses Marecha did not attend the proceedings.
The Gweru mayor was in an uncompromising mood as he also attacked the council procurement committee which is chaired by town clerk, Daniel Matawu.
Clr Kombayi accused the procurement committee of acquiring equipment at bloated prices instead of purchasing from cheaper firms locally or importing.
However, in his defence, Matawu said the finance committee clears everything that needs to be purchased.
He said that there were laid down procedures on procurement by local authorities as required by law which council is adhering to.
“Everything required by council departments is first presented to the finance committee which then approves. Thereafter, in terms of the law if it’s below $10,000 we’ve to seek three quotations and we normally approve the lowest. If it’s above that we go to tender,” said Matawu.
The town clerk said importing equipment would require those companies to meet the requirements of the State Procurement Board among other requirements.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter