FOUR Bulawayo councillors who were recently exposed after
allegedly being pampered by a Harare-based parking systems management company
have claimed that the company cosseted them while they were on party business.
The councillors were pampered with five-star hotel junkets
among other goodies by the company, which also took them to some of their
parking meter projects within the capital city. The four councillors; Mlandu
Ncube, Sinikiwe Mutanda, Frank Javangwe and Sikhululekile Moyo, who all belong
to MDC-Alliance, while appearing before an internal audit team, claimed that
while indeed the company had sponsored their accommodation, they were there on
party, not council business.
According to a confidential audit report all the four
implicated councillors, who had initially denied being part of the trip when
Sunday News first broke the story, changed goal posts, now confirming that the
parking systems management company had indeed paid for their accommodation but
claimed they were on party business at the time.
The four claimed they were in Harare to attend a party
organising committee meeting, claiming it was the opposition party’s congress
at the time.
“According to the four councillors implicated in the report
they went to Harare to attend their political party’s business. They said they
departed from Bulawayo on 9 May and they had planned to return the same day but
due to logistical problems the business for the day ended very late and since
they had not made any arrangements to spend the night there they were stranded after
the meeting.
“They told us that Clr Ncube then phoned his friend and
informed them that his friend had organised accommodation for them. They
indicated that they were not aware that Clr Ncube’s friend had requested (the
parking management company) to pay the hotel bills on their behalf.
They said, however, they were not surprised by this
development, as their party sometimes organises accommodation for members
through well-wishers,” reads part of the audit report.
However, the audit team failed to interview the parking systems
management company claiming that the managing director did not respond to
questions sent to him.
“We also contacted the company through an email dated 4
July 2019 seeking confirmation whether they made the said payment and under
what circumstances. However, to date they have not responded.
“We made follow ups via the phone on several occasions (the
latest being 16 September) and the personal assistant to the director indicated
to us that the managing director was yet to respond as he is always occupied,”
reads part of the report.
As part of the conclusions, the city’s audit team noted
that while the parking systems management company had not responded to the
questions sent to them, the hotel had confirmed the bookings of which they
could not find proof of the nature of the payment but had to rely on the
account of the councillors that they were on party business.
“To deal with the negative publicity from the city parking
management project, which had created interest from various stakeholders, it is
prudent for the city to put the matter to rest by urgently making a decision to
tender out the project to avoid accusations of lack of transparency in the
matter and finalise the project which can be a game changer in terms of the
much needed revenue by the city,” reads the report.
Contacted for comment, MDC-A secretary for Local Government
Mr Clifford Hlatshwayo professed ignorance on the remarks by the councillors
that they were on official party business. He called on the council’s audit
team to freely engage the party leadership so they get to the bottom of the
matter. Sunday News
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