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Bulawayo Agenda financial mismanagement, donors withhold funds, directors resign

by Ndou Paul
26 Jul 2011 at 17:53hrs | Views
Bulawayo Agenda executive director Annastacia Moyo and financial director Titshabona Ncube have resigned from the troubled non-governmental organisation amid reports of alleged gross financial mismanagement.

Board chairperson Kucaca Phulu confirmed the developments yesterday.

Moyo tendered her resignation to the Bulawayo Agenda board of trustees on Friday last week while Ncube terminated his contract the previous day.

The pair left the organisation after NewsDay last week published a damning internal report questioning some of the transactions allegedly authorised by the two directors.

Phulu yesterday said they were planning to hold an urgent board meeting to map the way forward.

Phulu, however, chose to downplay reports of financial mismanagement levelled against the pair, saying the two were being probed for failing to properly manage the organisation's debt and rentals issue.

Investigations revealed that Bulawayo Agenda had liabilities amounting to $73 650 by July 7. Of the amount, $35 000 was for rental arrears, Zimra ($5 500), National Social Security Authority ($1 500), Rainbow Hotel ($5 000), TelOne ($17 500), Zesa ($750), medical aid arrears ($2 500), Internet ($1 200), Gwanda rental arrears ($350), and audit fees ($4 500).

As of July 7, Bulawayo Agenda had $1 145, 50 in seven bank accounts with one account holding $9, 12. The net worth of the civic group as of July 7 was $282 019.

A total of eight donor agencies were meant to have poured $354 524 last month, but had reportedly not done so by yesterday.

There have been negative reviews of Bulawayo Agenda with one Methuseli Moyo who is the Director for Information, Publicity and Marketing for Zapu writing an article about Bulawayo Agenda.

Moyo said recent political developments in the MDC-with-Morgan Tsvangirai's surname in Bulawayo, and indeed the rest of Matabeleland has answered some questions which I, and may be you, have been asking. What is Bulawayo Agenda? Who is Bulawayo Agenda? Is Bulawayo Agenda indeed Bulawayo's agenda?

Bulawayo Agenda, is a non-governmental organization housed on the sixth floor of Pioneer House on Fife Street and Eighth Avenue in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second capital and critical urban centre for the predominantly Ndebele-speaking and grossly marginalized south-western region of the country.

Bulawayo Agenda has for years almost succeeded in masquerading as a non-state, non-political civic actor whose primary objective is to advance Bulawayo, and indeed the rest of Matabeleland's agenda in all fronts. Some of us have always been skeptical about the activities and scope and personalities involved in the so-called Bulawayo Agenda. By the way, this misnamed institution has multiplied itself into other little Agendas such as Gweru Agenda, Nkayi Agenda, Gwanda Agenda, Lupane Agenda, Hwange Agenda, Victoria Falls Agenda, Tsholotsho Agenda, Matobo Agenda, and so forth. In fact, almost every inch of the territory of any area in the region has been made an Agenda of this now vulnerable and brutally exposed and irrelevant organization.

An agenda is a programme of action. Bulawayo Agenda is therefore meant to be an institution which has been mandated (or has mandated itself) to define and implement a programme of action for Bulawayo and the surrounding provinces and districts. What is that agenda? Whose agenda is it? To carry out its agenda, Bulawayo Agenda created another misnamed organization, the so-called Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association, whose administration is housed at Fidelity Life Building on Fife Street and 11th Avenue in Bulawayo. Initially, BA and BPRA used to operate from the same Pioneer House offices, and most of the time using the same officers. Maybe someone noticed that their plan would be badly exposed and decided to house BPRA four avenues away. The man who worked so hard to operationalise both BA and BPRA is none other than then new, violently-elected MDC-T provincial chairman and Cabinet minister, Mr Gorden Moyo, the former publicity secretary of Zapu 2000. Moyo was executive director of BA until 2009 when Tsvangirai made him a minister. One does not need to be a rocket scientist (if I may borrow words of the other troublesome Moyo from Matabeleland, Prof Jonathan, the MP for Tsholotsho North) to see why Tsvangirai went out of his way to make the "gallant" son of Matabeleland a minister, ahead of more senior, prominent and deserving officials of his party.

Busani recently also asked the question on whose interest does Minister Gorden Moyo, Byo Agenda and BUPRA serve!

"I have nothing personal against Bulawayo Agenda and or Gorden Moyo. I have never hated any of both and I do not intend to do so later in my life. I equally do not have any problems with any person belonging to and or forming any organisation but I have every problem with any person and or organization whose activities seek to undermine, ridicule and or unfairly campaign for some political club under the false banner of providing honest members of the public with a forum for debate and dialogue, especially if the concerned members of public are the people of Matabeleland" said Busani.


Source - Byo24News