By Staff Reporter
A vicious power struggle between Zaka Rural District Council (RDC) Chairperson Fungai Maregedze and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Majaura has exploded into the open, triggered by a fiercely contested and allegedly rigged hiring process for the position of Executive Officer (EO) for Housing and Social Services.
The scandal has laid bare profound divisions within the council, pitting elected officials against administration and revealing a tangled web of political influence.
The controversy centres on Clever Khumalo, a candidate from the council’s own social services department, who initially topped the interviews. His victory was short-lived. Councillors on the Human Resources committee, allegedly loyal to Chairperson Maregedze and unhappy that their preferred third-place candidate had lost, successfully pushed for the entire process to be nullified.
Khumalo refused to comment when he was contacted by TellZim News and reffered all questions to Majaura or Maregedze.
Majaura failed to answer his cell and Maregedze did not respond to questions send to her over the matter.
A full council meeting on August 8 ratified this decision, resolving that “a second round of interviews be conducted for the post in August 2025 with the same candidates,” according to official minutes seen by TellZim News.
However, in a move that breached the council’s own resolution, an additional, previously unvetted candidate was mysteriously added to the shortlist.
Highly placed sources within the council allege this candidate was given an unfair advantage as her responses were almost similar to the answer transcript.
“We suspect that the new candidate had seen the answer sheet because her answers were verbatim. She seemed to have crammed the script, reciting it to the dot without missing a comma,” said the source.
Unsurprisingly, the new candidate emerged victorious in the second round, demoting Khumalo to second place. The result ignited immediate fury among a faction of councillors, who are now crying foul and demanding the results be annulled.
“This is a clear case of rigging. We used to blame management for not implementing our resolutions, but now it is us violating our own word. How can we ever hold the administration accountable after this? It sets a dangerous precedent,” fumed a councillor who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The councillors argue that the inclusion of the new candidate was unlawful and are threatening legal action if the outcome is not overturned.
The contentious hiring stands in stark contrast to other recent recruitment processes at the RDC, which proceeded without incident.
Takudzwa William Kativhu was selected as the Human Resources and Administration Clerk, Trust Mtisi as the District Engineer, and Jephison Chikuni as the EO for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
This scandal is merely the latest battle in a long-running war between Chairperson Maregedze and CEO Majaura. Their feud, which has paralyzed development in the district, stems from Maregedze’s accusations that Majaura is incompetent and obstructive, while Majaura counters that the chairperson is overstepping her governance role to interfere in daily administration.
Critics, however, see a larger pattern of nepotism and a bid for total control. Maregedze’s husband, Clemence Chiduwa, is a powerful political figure being the Zanu PF Zaka DCC chairperson, sitting MP for Zaka South, and a former finance minister.
Many allege that Maregedze’s ascent to the council chairmanship and her current attempts to influence key appointments are part of a strategy to consolidate her husband’s political and economic influence over the entire district, turning the RDC into a family enterprise.
