BCC suspends 'mole'

THE Bulawayo City Council has reportedly suspended one of its senior engineers on allegations of leaking confidential council information to the media and public, Sunday News reported.

The embattled local authority suspended Engineer David Jana as a means of saving face after a series of court battles with the Affirmative Action Group which was calling on Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere to dissolve council over a number of corruption allegations.

This was after this publication published a dossier outlining a string of alleged corruption and mismanagement by senior council officials.

A couple of months ago, the council's acting town clerk, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou, came out guns blazing, and threatened that they would not rest until they weed out an alleged mole, revealing that the information contained in the document showed that the dossier was compiled by someone who was within the local authority and had knowledge of council's operations.

In the latest development it is alleged the local authority's director for engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube was tasked with weeding out the mole within his department, as he had the majority of corruption allegations levelled against him.

BCC senior public relations officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu refused to comment on the matter arguing that "staff issues are confidential and are dealt with internally."

However, contacted for comment, Eng Jana acknowledged that he had been suspended but declined to give further details pertaining his suspension.

"Yes I can confirm that I was suspended but I cannot give further details as the processes are still ongoing," he said.
Impeccable council sources who spoke to this publication, however, said the suspension of Eng Jana was a desperate bid by the local authority to cover their tracks as most of the contents of the dossier were accurate and had sent shivers among most of the top officials within the local authority.

"The top managers have all but admitted that the contents of that dossier are true by launching that manhunt. They knew that they had been exposed and they had to save face as a matter of urgency. Things haven't been as smooth flowing as usual, with all sorts of threats being levelled against junior staffers, not because they suspect us to have leaked that information but because we know a lot of things that have been happening within this local authority and have been just swept under the carpet," said the source.

A councillor who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were not going to be blinded by this suspension but would continue investigating the operations of the local authority to get to the bottom of the corruption allegations.

"The court case was not aimed at the council officials but us councillors; right now they suspended this senior engineer behind our backs knowing very well that we will raise a lot of questions. We are now simply waiting for this alleged suspension to be reported to us and I promise you, you can expect a story there because we will surely expose them. We are sick and tired of us taking the fall for their misdemeanors," said the councillor.

In the urgent chamber application made by AAG, Minister Kasukuwere and Bulawayo Provincial Administrator Ms Khonzani Ncube were cited as first and second respondents respectively. In the pressure group's founding affidavit, they allege the local authority has tenders worth $8 749 914 that have serious irregularities due to massive corruption, nepotism, negligence and collusion of Bulawayo City Council officials.

AAG also issued the city's mayor Councillor Martin Moyo an ultimatum to explain a number of tender allegations levelled against the local authority, with the same group also petitioning the local authority following alleged widespread tender irregularities involving the local authority.

The group was irked by reports that contracts with a combined value of about $8,7 million were retendered or extended after winning companies either disappeared or failed to complete projects. It was alleged that defaulting companies were working in cahoots with senior council officials who played both tender adjudication and supervisory roles, creating fertile ground for manipulation in the bidding process.