The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
RUSAPE councillors, who were granted $50 000 bail each, hastily convened a special meeting to terminate the appointment of Charles Chindenga – who was arrested together with them – as the acting town secretary, after the court barred him from visiting council premises till the finalisation of the matter.
Chindenga, who has been at the helm of the local authority since July 2020, was replaced by Mr Fanseni Shuwa.
The appointment was with effect from November 3, 2021 to January 3, 2022.
The latest development follows a swoop by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) last week, which led to the arrest of eight councillors – Lyton Sithole (Ward Five), Peter Kwesha (Ward 10), Joseph Nyamupera (Ward Three), Ndabaningi Mataga (Ward Seven), Luckson Zengeni (Ward Nine), Patrick Chipere (Ward One), Elizabeth Chidza (Ward Four), Munyaradzi Chigwede (Ward Eight) and Chindenga – on allegations of violating Section 174 of the Criminal Law (Codification Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23, which makes abuse of office by public officers a criminal offence.
The nine allegedly passed and implemented a resolution to disregard procurement regulations and assign themselves powers to appoint lawyers to preside over the disciplinary hearing of former town secretary, Solomon Gabaza, who also has criminal abuse of office charges pending before the courts.
The councillors allegedly cancelled the procurement procedure tender RTC/ADM/01/2020 initiated by one Silvanus Shiri, in terms of Sections 57, 58 and 59 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (Chapter 22:23).
They allegedly resolved through Resolution Number SFC07/06/20 to authorise council to set up a disciplinary authority and prosecuting team to handle Gabaza’s case.
Resolution number SFC07/06/20 allegedly repealed SFC/06/06/20 as council was supposed to put the procurement of legal services to tender and empowered Chindenga and Cllr Sithole to ignore procurement regulations and appoint lawyers of their choice.
They allegedly appointed Mr Charles Kwaramba of Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni Attorneys as the disciplinary authority and Mr Norman Mugiya of Mugiya and Muvhami Law Chambers as the prosecutor.
The lawyers charged council $629 000 and $700 000 respectively, while a check with the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) shows that council should have applied for exemption if the services sought were urgent and above the minimum threshold of $87 000.
Rusape magistrate, Ms Annie Ndiraya remanded the nine council officials to November 12 on $50 000 bail each.
Ms Event Dhliwayo prosecuted and did not oppose bail.
The accused persons were represented by Mr Leonard Chigadza, of Chigadza and Associates and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Ms Ndiraya ordered them to report every Friday at CID Rusape, surrender their passports and not to interfere with Mr Darlington Museka (complainant).
Chindenga was barred from visiting council premises, forcing the councillors to convene the emergency meeting on Tuesday to terminate his reign at the helm of the local authority.
The motion to remove him was moved by Cllr Chigwede and seconded by Cllrs Clever Chimuse (Ward Two) and Nyamupera.
Cllr Kwesha objected, citing Mr Shuwa’s controversial resignation from the same post in June last year.
However, the majority of the councillors endorsed the appointment.
“The council took the decision to avoid creating a vacuum, as you are aware the acting town secretary was barred by the court from visiting council premises; making it impossible for him to conduct the day-to-day running of the council.
“We then convened a special full council meeting which resolved to terminate his appointment and appointed a new broom until January 3, 2022. Eight councillors attended the meeting and seven were in agreement that Mr Shuwa be the acting town secretary until January 3, 2022,” said Sithole.
Mr Shuwa accepted the appointment.
“We had to terminate the appointment of Chindenga so that when the court probably relaxes his bail conditions and he reports for duty, there will not be two acting town secretaries,” he said Cllr Sithole.
