Corruption in local authorities is a cause for concern

The Commission running the Gweru City Council affairs should heed the instruction issued by the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere that all directors implicated in the mismanagement of funds and corruption should be dismissed as a way of stamping out corrupt activities within that local authority.

Minister Kasukuwere came up with this decision after realising that most of the directors employed by the Gweru City Council were implicated recently by the audit report as the most culprits in the embezzlement and mismanagement of funds, wasteful expenditure, governance issues as well as non-compliance of ministerial directives. So Minister Kasukuwere saw no reason why people who were corrupt and incompetence in doing their work could be left to ruin the good name of Gweru City Council.

Actually the directive to the Gweru commission to sack corrupt directors by Minister Kasukuwere came some few days after he had also instructed all local authorities around the country to hold their seminars within their areas of jurisdiction as a means to save the ratepayers' money. The Minister banned that concept of having seminars in faraway resort places, for example you get some city fathers travelling all the way from Mutare to Victoria Falls just to discuss how they could run the affairs of the Mutare City Council. The Minister saw no rational on that move in which top management would do seminars outside their areas of jurisdiction when they were failing to give effective service deliveries to the people.

For that reason Minister Kasukuwere saw it necessary to stop such a habit by some city fathers of having lavish seminars outside their areas of jurisdiction as a way of making sure that they do not abuse some ratepayers' money. It is necessary to make sure that all some local authorities are got rid of people who have no interests in making sure that their town and cities are well managed. As such a move can be effective by uprooting corrupt people in areas of authority.

The move taken by Minister Kasukuwere should be applauded because dismissing those people involved in corrupt activities from some local authorities as well as banning money spending through seminars are some noble ideas that could bring sanity in most local authorities. Actually the instruction by Minister Kasukuwere to sack corrupt directors in Gweru, should not be only heeded by the Gweru Commission alone but all local authorities around the country should do likewise.  

Most of the local authorities in the country have been struggling to offer basic services to the people just because some resources have dwindled as a result of corrupt activities by the senior management of such local authorities. Some of the top management of some local authorities in the country have devised an art of living lavishly because of the ill gotten money from corrupt activities that they do while at work. The holding of seminars outside their places of jurisdiction came with some travelling and subsistence allowances thereby draining the ratepayers' money. So the intervention of Minister Kasukuwere as a way of bringing sanity to the local authorities should be applauded.

Meanwhile Minister Kasukuwere's call for the Commission running the Gweru Local Authority to fire corrupt directors within its ranks should not be taken as only referring to the Gweru directors only but this call should apply to all local authorities around the country. It should be known that corruption is a cancer which is very dangerous and as such prevention is better than cure. Dismissing people found on the wrong side of the law would act as a deterrent to would be corrupt activity doers.

Some local authorities' top management have stalled developments in some towns and cities in which they would be running because they are good at fattening their wallets through corrupt means when some service deliveries have dwindled drastically. Owning a house or a stand in some of these city councils in the country has become a problem and difficult as corruption in such sectors is the order of the day. Actually these people even make it difficult for some home seekers to get stands if there are no kickbacks involved. For the record, getting a stand in a normal way these days has become just a pipe dream in all local authorities around the country.

Some difficulties in getting stands around the country has created the problem of some land barons who have taken over the issuance of stands through some housing cooperatives. As such most of the desperate home seekers have found themselves being fleeced their hard won cash by those land barons. The problem of some land barons in the country could be eradicated by making sure that some local authorities become open in delivering stands to the home seekers. And that move can only be possible by dealing decisively with corrupt officials within such departments.

So for the public to be protected from such land barons and corrupt local authorities management, all those found to be on the wrong side of the law should be dismissed and taken to Chikurubi Maximum prison. In Chikurubi it is where they can fit well as letting them walk scot-free when they would have destroyed the economy is tantamount to letting a murderer walk scot-free.

Zimbabweans should work hard and make sure that they deal decisively with corrupt officials in all sectors of the economy so that the economic fortune of the country is revived. The war started by Minister Kasukuwere of trying to bring sanity in all local authorities around the country should be applauded by all people in the country. In fact all Zimbabweans should embrace this phenomenon and make sure that they join hands with Minister Kasukuwere in dealing decisively with corrupt people within any economic sector in the country so that everyone enjoys this cake.