ZACC investigating Kwekwe City Council

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has launched an investigation into Kwekwe City Council over the alleged abuse of funds collected from street vendors.

Kwekwe Mayor Albert Zinhanga confirmed the probe during a full council meeting held on Tuesday, saying ZACC was in possession of an internal audit report compiled by the council following allegations of the theft of vendor revenue.

"The audit report is now under ZACC and we cannot discuss it at the moment," Zinhanga told councillors. "We are waiting for ZACC to finish what they are doing so that we can also get feedback on the issue."

Zinhanga was responding to a request from Ward 10 councillor Solomon Matsa, who had asked for a copy of the audit report. Matsa raised concerns that councillors had not been furnished with the findings despite the matter being brought to council several months ago.

The audit was commissioned after Matsa, in August this year, accused council management of stealing thousands of dollars collected from vendors and called for a formal investigation.

Matsa has claimed that his own investigations revealed serious discrepancies in the handling of vendor fees. He alleged that the local authority collects between US$100 000 and US$150 000 from vendors every month, yet only about US$4 000 is reportedly being reflected in council coffers on a monthly basis.

"We need to see the audit report on the issue of money being stolen in this council," Matsa said during the meeting. "We raised this issue about three months ago, but up to now we haven't seen the audit report."

The ZACC investigation is expected to determine whether there was misappropriation of funds and identify those responsible, as scrutiny intensifies over financial management at local authorities.