The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has set
sights on cleansing local authorities of corrupt officials, with Chitungwiza,
Harare and Victoria Falls topping the investigations list, an official has
said.
ZACC chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo said the net
was closing in on all council officials implicated in graft, with ZACC having
signed papers to investigate Victoria Falls town clerk Ronnie Dube, who
suspiciously allocated himself 15 000 hectares of land.
ZACC yesterday also picked up Chitungwiza housing director
Hazel Sithole for interviews over a land scandal.
Sithole has another pending court case in which she
allegedly allocated a commercial stand worth over $30 000 to a local company,
Metalhill Investments (Pvt) Ltd, without following due process.
She was freed on $500 bail on Monday. Justice Matanda-Moyo
said the arrest of corrupt local authorities’ officials was imminent. “More
arrests for Chitungwiza and Harare are on their way,” she said.
“A Chitungwiza housing director has been picked for
interviews and we are yet to make a decision to make her either a witness or an
accused.”
In the past administration, the vice of corruption in local
authorities has been rife and reached alarming levels, with officials walking
scot-free after fleecing ratepayers of their money. Justice Matanda-Moyo said
the anti-corruption team was also investigating all local authorities across
the country.
“Papers have also been signed for an investigation of land
sales involving Victoria Falls municipality town clerk Dube over the alleged
unprocedural selling of 15 000 hectares of land to himself,” she said.
ZACC is leaving no stone unturned in fighting graft, with
Chitungwiza mayor Lovemore Maiko, ward 2 councillor Kudakwashe John and works
director David Duma, among top council officials, arrested on graft charges
with pending cases.
The trio is being charged with criminal abuse of office
involving the selling of commercial land in Chitungwiza, including 2 000 square
metres at Chigovanyika Shopping Centre.
They later sold 1 500 of land to Maiko’s wife after a
council resolution they made.
Harare City Council has numerous cases of corruption,
including one in which Kuwadzana district officer Mrs Betty Mbara allocated
stands to her son, Justin Mazodzore, and daughter-in- law Alice Mandivenga who
is based in Australia and does not meet the city’s waiting list criteria. Herald
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