'Kasukuwere driven by petty jealousy,' says corrupt MDC-T official

MDC-T Bulawayo deputy mayor, Gift Banda says his suspension by Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere is laden with malice, political convenience, petty jealousies and a deeply entrenched desire to destroy the city's administration.

Kasukuwere suspended Banda two months ago, accusing him of abusing his office to acquire land and properties in Bulawayo.

But in a 47-page response to Kasukuwere, Banda challenged the minister and his investigating team to cite the regulations he flouted as these were not stated in the initial charge sheet.

"The 30-pages of the [investigating team's] report fail to quote any by-law, rule, regulation, statute, manual literature reviews on what is the procedure [which I flouted]," Banda said.

"One is forced to ask why when it comes to procedure and tender chapters, the investigating team runs short of what rules, regulations, policy documents or law to quote. Such wanton abuse of office by your investigating team is unwarranted, unacceptable and may be politically motivated. No other reasonable explanation exists under the sun because within the realm of rationality, I can't see how the alleged factual findings support the conclusions and recommendations made."

Banda said the report that led to his suspension was vague.

"I have witnessed and the generality of Bulawayo are forced to witness a brazen, arbitrary and attack on representative democracy fuelled by speculation, rumours, petty jealousy, political rivalry and a deeply entrenched desire to destroy Bulawayo and good governance that it has always stood for," he said.

Banda denied using his office as deputy mayor to influence council procedures. He argued he had, on many occasions, recused himself from proceedings that were held in and by council to deliberate sale of the property under contention.

"I never used my position as deputy mayor or councillor to acquire stand 18827 Bulawayo Township [portion of Ascot]," he said.

Banda also said the investigating team's findings were "frivolous" as it disregarded input made by various council departments before he was given the stands and properties in question.

Banda said the investigating team disregarded a letter written by the then acting town clerk, Sikhangele Zhou, to the Bulawayo provincial administrator, Khonzani Ncube where the former explained that the sale of the property was above board.

He said by disregarding the letter, he wondered how the team found him guilty of the said charges when it had ignored comments from the custodians of council operations, the town clerk's office.

He added the Local Government permanent secretary George Mlilo was also a beneficiary of the same systems that the Bulawayo City Council used in his acquisition of the property under contention, adding there was no hullabaloo when Mlilo acquired land from the Bulawayo City Council.