Probe over Figtree stands allocation

BULILIMA Rural District Council in Matabeleland South Province is investigating allegations that the local authority's Chief Executive Officer, Mr John Brown Ncube illegally allocated 30 Figtree housing stands, claims he has denied.

Chronicle is in possession of a letter which was written to council chairperson Mr Zoolake Nyathi and copied to the CEO, audit chairperson and audit committee members.

The letter, which was leaked by disgruntled council workers, was written by the acting treasurer, Mr Israel Moyo and challenges the allocation of the stands.

"Following my advice to council and senior management on stands allocation resolution which states that ‘A management committee or a committee set by it shall preside over stand allocation', this has not been the case. Allocation of stands have been unilaterally done and in non-compliance to council resolution which was passed by audit committee in year 2020," wrote Mr Moyo.

He said he was seeking reasons why there was non-compliance as a management member.

"A management committee was therefore supposed to sit and ensure that bona fide applicants get the stands. The questions that arise are: What criteria was used to allocate from the waiting list? What controls were instituted to avoid collusion? Are there minutes of the allocation that are availed for audit trail purposes?" asked Mr Moyo.

Mr Nyathi said he had received the letter and was waiting for a report from the CEO on the matter.

"I am aware of the issue you are raising about the stands that are said to have been allocated. According to our council resolution, stands can only be allocated by a full management committee of council to prevent corruption. From what I am getting the law was not followed. I approached the CEO about the issue. I am yet to get feedback from him. We will only move once I have his side," he said.

Reached for comment, Mr Ncube said everything was done above board.

"As far as we are concerned, yes, the stands were allocated according to law and whoever says it was not would be having his own view, but we know the stands went through the committee system and we have resolutions to that effect," he said.

A source at the RDC said over 200 stands were pegged in 2020 by council, but could not allocate them due to the absence of a management committee.

"The stands have been there since 2020 as they could not be allocated due to the issue of who should allocate them.

There is a team which has been pushing to be the one in charge of allocating and last year they were pushing for council to adopt a housing policy that would have empowered the Social Services Department and Engineering Department and the CEO to allocate the stands, but that was shot down as it would have violated council resolution on stands allocations.

The people who were pushing this were not happy about losing out," said the source.

The source said part of the team that was pushing for allocation viewed Mr Moyo as a stumbling block and when the council treasurer resigned, he was moved to act in that position.

The source said it was time the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission visited council to investigate what is happening.

A resident who got a stand, but declined to be named said he received his offer letter last week.

"I applied for the stand in 2018 and received an offer letter which I signed for at the council offices last week. I am actually going to the bank to pay the ZW$70 000 so that they can show me the stand and other issues," said the resident.