The Public Service
Commission (PSC) has suspended without salary and allowances Registrar-General
Clemence Masango who is facing charges of criminal abuse of office as a public
officer after he allegedly instructed CMED to buy a double cab and six single
cab pick-up trucks without Cabinet approval before using the vehicles at his
farm.
The suspension will run from May 8, 2020 to August 2020 and
is meant to allow Auditor General Mrs Mildred Chiri to conduct a forensic audit
of the central registry.
Masango has denied any wrongdoing saying the process of
buying the cars started long before he assumed duty as Registrar-General and
that payments were made within 10 days of him assuming duty on September 24,
2018.
He said he found no reason to seek authority from
accounting officers, as CMED was mandated to procure vehicles on behalf of the
Government. Masango also denied misusing Government vehicles at his farm,
saying he only acquired the land in December last year.
When contacted yesterday over the suspension, Masango
declined to comment referring questions to Secretary for Home Affairs and
Cultural Heritage, Mr Aaron Nhepera.
Mr Nhepera confirmed the suspension. “That issue is handled
by the PSC because of his level as a senior Government official. I only come in
when I asked him to sign the letter to show that he had received it,” said Mr
Nhepera.
According to a letter signed by PSC Secretary Ambassador
Jonathan Wutawunashe, Masango was suspended to allow a forensic audit and will
not be allowed to leave the country without the permission of the employer. His
bail conditions included the need for him to surrender his passport to the
court, so he is now under a double travel ban.
“The reasons for your suspension are that your continued
attendance at work or your continued performance of duties would enable you to
hinder or interfere with the investigations or evidence relating to the alleged
misconduct, occasion prejudice to any moneys or property likely to be handled
by you in the course of your work and also be undesirable in the public
interest or likely to lead to a loss of public confidence in the Public
Service.”
Masango was directed not to go to work during the period of
his suspension. “Since the nature of the allegations you are facing involve
financial prejudice to the Government, you shall not be entitled to a
suspension allowance during the period of suspension.”
Last week Masango was granted $10 000 bail by a magistrate
court and had to handover the title deeds to his home as extra surety when he
appeared for his initial remand.
Masango was arrested last week by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption
Commission after an investigation into allegations raised by one of his
subordinates, chief accountant Peter Bwanya, who is himself facing a
disciplinary hearing after allegedly forcing one of his subordinates to resign
at gunpoint. Herald
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