The revelation comes in the wake of a recent descending on
Bulawayo City Council by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) which
saw the arrest of Deputy Mayor Councillor Edwin Ndlovu and chairperson of the
Finance Committee Clr Mpumelelo Moyo who were implicated in corrupt practices.
Contractors who spoke to Sunday News but asked not to be
named urged Zacc to dig deeper into corruption allegations claiming that they
have long contended with the corrupt nature of some city councillors, who have
demanded bribes ranging from five percent to 10 percent of the value of their
contracts.
“It is just not this current crop of councillors but, for
years, we’ve been forced to navigate a system where some councillors blatantly
ask for ‘facilitation’ fees,” said a contractor, who asked to remain anonymous
for fear of reprisals.
“They claim that without these payments, we wouldn’t secure
favourable deals with the council.”
Another contractor shared a similar experience, stating,
“It’s been a desperate situation. Many of us felt we had no choice but to pay
these bribes just to keep our companies afloat.
The fear of being side-lined or losing contracts was
overwhelming.
“For example for housing contracts, they demand payment in
the form of housing stands, where if I develop an area with 500 stands, I have
to set aside 50 stands for those ‘influential’ councillors. Imagine all the
money I would have used in developing the area, I just hand over 50 stands to
someone so that I be able to get future deals with the local authority.”
The recent arrests have ignited a sense of hope among the
contractors, who believe that a more transparent and fair contracting
environment could soon emerge.
“This is a step in the right direction,” remarked one
contractor.
“We’ve been calling for accountability for too long, and
now it seems like the authorities are finally listening.”
The predicament is not faced by contractors only as some
service providers have also raised a red flag revealing that councillors would
intimidate them claiming that the service had been given the go-ahead through
“their” influence.
“These councillors were now a huge problem. They were also
demanding a cut from me on my case, claiming they were behind the council’s
decision to approve the training. However, as a brother I didn’t want to get
them into trouble, therefore I just ignored them.
“Fortunately for me, I knew the processes and that they
were lying. So l just ignored them but they kept on calling, demanding 10
percent of what I had charged the local authority,” said the service provider.
A senior council employee further revealed that the
councillors had also infiltrated the employment of critical staff, where they
would demand bribes from interested individuals for senior positions in which
they had a direct influence. Sunday News
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