The Sunday Mail
Barman steals to pay maintenance | Managers run secret payroll | Tender procedures disregarded
Fraudulent allocation of stands is said to be on the increase in Chitungwiza, allegedly being done by corrupt council officials
Municipality bar manager Mr Godknows Muzenda, whose duty is to reconcile alcohol cash sales, admitted to dipping into the till and taking US$2 840 to pay maintenance arrears.
A storm is brewing in Chitungwiza Municipality where an internal audit has unearthed several irregularities, which hard-pressed workers allege the council is turning a blind eye to.
A report by the municipality’s audit manager, Mr Jimmy Chiundura, for April 2015 unearthed the irregular appointment of Mrs Mary Rashamira as human resources director as she is unqualified for the job.
When Chitungwiza Municipality appeared before the Local Government Board over the same issue, it was advised to appoint her a middle manager and not as a director as she did not meet the desired attributes as per the vacancy advertisement.
The municipality went ahead and appointed her a director.
The council has also engaged a J Mapani as IT manager without the necessary qualifications. He has since been placed on probation as he obtains the requisite qualifications.
Questions sent to the town clerk, Mr George Makunde, on May 27 relating to this and other issues, had not been responded to by the time of going to print.
Efforts to get a comment from the chamber secretary’s office also proved futile.
Workers, especially those in grades 1 to 12, are fuming that they are having to contend with across-the-board allowances and salaries of US$250 when senior management appear to be living well, off alleged graft.
For instance, workers cite the issue of Stand Number 8917 Manyame, a 2 000-square metre property ostensibly sold for US$2 700 to Zaoga church against a market value of US$26 195.
When queried by the audit team how they got the stand for a song, the church said it had paid US$8 000 and yet the council’s books record only US$2 700.
The audit team recommended that Zaoga be paid back and the stand be repossessed.
According to Mr Ephraim Katsina, chair of the Chitungwiza Municipality Workers’ Union, the issue of fraudulently acquired stands is, but one of many instances of alleged corruption.
Some of the cases certainly border on the bizarre.
Municipality bar manager Mr Godknows Muzenda, whose duty is to reconcile alcohol cash sales, admitted to dipping into the till and taking US$2 840 to pay maintenance arrears.
In a signed affidavit, a copy which is in our hands, Mr Muzenda said he had not paid maintenance to three women he has children with and by February this year owed US$11 090, hence taking the money to avoid doing jail time.
“I was supposed to find means to avoid jail at any costs. However, I was left with no choice, regrettably though, than solving my problems by creating new ones. It is my utmost apology, dear auditor, that after failing to get salaries for a such a long time I found myself embroiled in a decision crisis,” Mr Muzenda wrote.
He added, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, “I would like to thank the Chitungwiza Municipality, once again, for availing US$2 000 to avoid my imprisonment.”
Another irregularity was with procurement of fuel. The council opted to buy retail fuel from Petrotrade, instead of buying bulk at a wholesale price.
With weekly consumption of 5 000 litres of diesel and 2 000 litres of petrol, the municipality is being prejudiced of about US$1 000 every week because of the higher retail price.
These are leaks Mr Katsina said the council should plug in view of the fact that workers have gone for months without being paid.
The audit team also noted that the internal decision to buy fuel at US$30 000 per month violated State Procurement Board procedures, as any purchases above US$10 000 should go to tender.
The audit team recommended that if the council insisted on buying retail fuel from Petrotrade, no cash should be redeemed to drivers and that the council must install fleet management software.
Another bone of contention for workers is that though Government directed all local authorities to slash executive salaries and allowances, Chitungwiza’s senior managers had circumvented this by printing payslips with zero-zero net salaries and then paying themselves via a parallel system.
A special account has been opened (bank name and account number provided) from which funds are transferred to senior executives.
A copy of a bank statement, in our possession, shows fund transfers and cash withdrawals of varying amounts on various dates, paid to the executive team.
Despite failing to meet salary obligations, the council on May 26 wrote to the Local Government Ministry asking to employ another 188 workers.
Chitungwiza district administrator Mr Z Chisango wrote back the following day requesting that the council furnish the ministry with the average revenue collection per month for the past five months and the total wage bill as of May 1, 2015.
“What is surprising us,” explained Mr Katsina, “is that this is the same council that is failing to pay us and is saying we are overstaffed.
“At one of the council meetings, it was resolved that should there be any vacancies, these should be filled from within. We agreed that besides attrition, staff rationalisation should be one way of getting over the over-staffing problem.”
The audit team also noted that some Chitungwiza council clinics stocked expired drugs and these must be disposed of.
Zengeza and St Mary’s clinics had expired drugs and did not keep an inventory. The recommendation is that health establishments always keep lists of expired drugs.
And as workers were digesting all these things, they last Wednesday received a memo informing them that gratuities would no longer to be paid.
Previously, an employee who had completed 10 or more years of continuous service would, on termination of employment, be paid a gratuity.
