Before the audit, complaints had been raised of ghost workers’ salaries being gobbled by senior managers, who also colluded with market stall owners to prejudice council of the gazetted operational fees.
The senior managers were also accused of milking council’s income-generating projects like Go-Beer Breweries which has since collapsed. Regular clean water supplies, refuse collection and road maintenance have dwindled severely in recent years.
Councillors also asked the audit team to ascertain the state of affairs at the Kudzanayi Msika Long distance bus terminuses, where transport operators pay to rank and load passengers. The management team led by council’s Finance Director Edgar Mwedzi was tasked to carry out the audit and report back.
But The Zimbabwean is reliably informed that the management failed to give a report or update on the exercise at the last full council meeting for 2014 held on 10 December, despite numerous calls for finalisation of the exercise in the build up to that date.
Mayor Hamutendi Kombayi confirmed this and said failure by the management to wrap up the audit seemed to prove true that there was heavy looting and corruption taking place at town house.
“I am not happy about this issue. Management failed to carry out a simple audit that needed less than a week to complete if all was in order. You cannot tell me that after two months, you still have not completed such a task. There are thieves at the council and we will not leave any stone unturned because there is need to normalise everything,” he said.
The mayor also added that what pains him the most is the fact that ordinary council employees go for months without being paid because of a few senior officials siphoning funds.
“We need to have a clear picture of every single cent that council gets. It just makes sense to be transparent and accountable so that our service delivery also improves,” said Kombayi.
Recently residents threatened to name and shame top council officials involved in corrupt activities if currently record low service delivery did not improve.
Post published in: News