BCC fires housing official

THE Bulawayo City Council has fired the housing assistant who was recently accused of fraudulently allocating council stands to her fianc√ɬ© and his relatives. 
According to documents in Chronicle's possession, the assistant, Mrs Sindiso Luphahla, was fired by a board of inquiry into her corruption allegations on 26 November. She unsuccessfully lodged an appeal against the decision through her lawyers Mabhikwa, Hikwa and Nyathi Legal Practitioners on 16 December.
The board, made up of councillors, upheld the decision to fire her.
Mrs Luphahla faced five cases of misconduct and 12 counts related to abuse of office.
She pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
She was acquitted on two of the charges, while two were withdrawn because of lack of evidence.
She was found guilty in all the others.
Among the counts that got the guilty verdict was the instance in which she allegedly allocated 976 Mahatshula stand to Mr Mbhekinkosi Macleans Moyo when he was not on the council waiting list.
Mr Moyo is referred to as her fiancé in council records.
"It was proven that the accused (Mrs Luphahla) gave an instruction to N Nleya to write an offer letter to M Moyo for bay 13, which was not part of the awarded tenderers. The accused apparently used a fraudulent memorandum for director of engineering services," states the document.
The said bay is a commercial stand in Lobengula suburb which, according to council records, was not supposed to be allocated to anyone.
Mrs Luphahla allegedly falsified records to influence the decision to award Mr Moyo the stand. She was also found guilty of allocating Mr Thandolwenkosi Moyo, House Number 1454 Mahatshula.
The board ruled that she fraudulently allowed Mr Moyo to sign the acceptance letter on behalf of Thandolwenkosi Moyo, without power of attorney.
"You further fraudulently removed the top copy of the agreement of sale for stand 1454 Mahatshula with intent to cancel or destroy evidence that you had corruptly processed that application," read the charge.
Other properties that Mrs Luphahla was accused of corruptly assisting Mr Moyo and his relatives to acquire, are stand numbers 631 Killarney, 833 Mahatshula, 18510 Selborne Park, Stand 15463 Kelvin North, 16534 Nkulumane, 74594 Lobengula, and 22551 Cowdray Park.
In her appeal, Mrs Luphahla said she was aggrieved with the manner her matter was handled by the City of Bulawayo in general and the disciplinary committee in particular.
"Appellant was unduly ostracised by the adverse media publicity, specifically the headline coverage by the Chronicle (November 23 and 24 editions)," Mrs Luphahla's defence stated.
Her lawyers alleged that Mrs Luphahla had been reliably informed that the story was personally fed to the Chronicle by the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Amen Mpofu, an assertion that has been proved to be false.
The defence said the statement by the Mayor, Clr Thaba Moyo, announcing council's zero tolerance to corruption after Mrs Luphahla was fired, was in apparent reference to her.
Councillors, however, upheld the decision to fire Mrs Luphahla after debating on the issue last Thursday.