Stung by a leaked dossier implicating high-ranking officials at Kwekwe city council in the housing department in corrupt practices, the local authority has been hit by a fresh housing scandal amid reports that residential stands close to the site of the new Midlands State University Campus of Law were controversially parcelled out to councillors, managers and close associates.
Impeccable sources who spoke to midlandsnews said the residential stands were recently parcelled out under controversial circumstances as councillors and top officials seek to lucratively cash-in from rentals by students at the School of Law.
The new campus was named after President Emmerson Mnangagwa and is situated about 12 kilometres west of the Midlands mining town along the old Gokwe Road.
“These guys (council management) have no shame at all. Remember they are currently stung by a dossier which is fingering some officials in the Housing and Community Services Department. Instead of trying to clear themselves in issues raised in that matter, they are continuing to do as they please”, a source said.
“If you check with the records, you will find out that most of the people who benefitted from the stands close to the Emmerson Mnangagwa School of Law are either managers, councillors or their associates. They want to benefit from the rentals from the MSU students to be enrolled at the campus”, the source said.
However, Acting Town Clerk Dr Lucia Mkandla dismissed the allegations as false, saying there is a ploy to discredit the management at the local authority.
“There is absolutely nothing like that”, Dr Mkandla said.
“We do not, and will never, give stands on a selective basis. That is actually coming from people who are bent on discrediting the management at Kwekwe city council. Maybe it is because we have been doing quite well perennially, and the people would want to paint a bad picture on the work that we have been doing”, she said.
Last month, a leaked dossier purportedly written by a council employee went viral on social media. The letter was also sent to the Loice Matanda Moyo-led Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
But, questioned why she is yet to engage internal auditors to probe officials implicated in the leaked dossier, Dr Mkandla quipped:
“I cannot comment, or take any action on a matter which is in ZACC’s hands. We will wait for ZACC to have a look into the matter because that letter was addressed to ZACC”.
midlands news
