Murewa RDC in eye of storm

Lawson Madzivanyika and Livingstone Marufu
Murewa Rural District Council is in the eye of a storm with the Murewa Business Association accusing the council officials of enriching themselves at the expense of rate-payers.

Documents obtained by The Sunday Mail Extra reveal that a lot of under-hand dealings are happening in Murewa with council officials living lavishly.

Residents have had to sign a petition to register their displeasure at the 2016 budget, arguing that it is not people-oriented.

The council has also been selling undeveloped residential stands at spiked prices of $8,33 per square metre, up from $4.

Mr Chamu Nheweyembwa, chairman of the Murewa Business Association, said the local authority has been short-changing residents over a period of time and they have been filing complaints to no avail.

Murewa Rural District Council is one of the 58 rural district councils established to serve the rural population.

“Year after year, local residents call upon the council to establish budgets that match the general income levels of the community. The call has been falling on deaf ears as evidenced by the high council expenditure levels,” said Mr Nheweyembwa.

“Their thrust has shifted from serving the rural folk to self-serving interests. Our community is not against modernised infrastructural developments but the set-up should not come at the expense of essential service delivery,” lamented Mr Nheweyembwa.

“The stands are now beyond the reach of many locals,” he said.

The council has also been accused of forcefully evicting some villagers from their land to pave way for urbanisation without compensating them.

Currently the council is involved in a High Court dispute with some villagers over compensation and alternative resettlement.

The chief executive officer of Murewa Rural District Council, Mr Alois Musakanda Gurajena, has also been accused pilfering meagre council finances. For instance, Mr Gurajena was allocated a house in Murewa as part of his managerial package but since 2005, he has been travelling from Harare to work daily at council expenditure.

“The CEO uses a council-allocated VW Amarok, which is expensive both on consumption and service, as his personal car. He is manipulating council resources to his private gain,” charged Mr Nheweyembwa.

According to documents in our possession, Mr Noah Tatenda Chimboza, the finance manager, got an allocation of 10 high-density stands and later resold them to a local businesswoman (name supplied).

However, Mr Gurajena has refuted the allegations.

“These guys (those accusing the council’s executive) have a hidden agenda and all their allegations are unfounded and baseless. I believe they are doctoring these allegations because they failed to make it into the council executive,” he said.

Mr Gurajena also defended the contentious 2016 budget.

“How can we cut our budget by 50 percent when our residents expect excellent service delivery? Our budget was approved by the Minister of Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Heritage. The petitions you have are not genuine as they were doctored by three people and not representative of what the locals want. Residents were actually surprised to learn that they had signed a petition against the proposed budget,” he said.

Assistant district administrator, Ms Phylis Banhwa, concurred with Mr Gurajena.

“The Minster (Abednico Ncube) approved the budget because he saw it feasible,” she said.

Mr Gurajena also argued that executive officials from all local authorities use top-of-the-range vehicles and therefore there is nothing amiss in doing so.

“All local authorities’ executives use top-of-the-range vehicles and there is nothing new about that. These vehicles help us in carrying out our duties,” he said.