TellZim Reporter
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) on Tuesday arrested Bikita Rural District Council (RDC) Chief Executive Officer over allegations of corruption emanating from the purchase of seven vehicles using council funds in 2022.
Reports coming from Bikita are that Peter Chibhi spent Tuesday night (February 28) in police cells after which he made an initial court appearance in before Bikita magistrate Takura Mugabe on March 1 (today).
Magistrate Mugabe is said to have granted Chibhi ZW$ 50 000 bail, asked the accused not to interfere with State witnesses and reporting to police once a week.
ZACC also reportedly took keys to the seven vehicles which include six Toyota Hilux GD6 bought for Head of Departments (HoDs) and the seventh a Prado Land Cruiser meant for the CEO and some reports are that the vehicles are supposed to be driven to ZACC offices in Masvingo (though yet to be verified).
Registration books to the vehicles were reportedly taken by ZACC late last year during the investigations into the allegations.
The said vehicles were bought after the RDC sought for a loan and went on to purchase the vehicles without the approval or knowledge of Minister of Local Government and Public Works July Moyo.
Contacted for comment resident lobby group Bikita Residents and Ratepayers Association (BIRRA) spokesperson Mark Mutengani said they welcome the move by ZACC and feel that will ensure sanity in the area.
“We really appreciate the action by ZACC to our council and arrest the CEO over misuse of public funds. We raised the issue last year when they bought GD6 vehicles in the name of managers. We hope justice and restitution will take course at the end of the day.
“We are expecting ZACC to dig further in search of more rot in our local authority. As residents, this is just but one of the many issues we raised the flag about,” said Mutengani.
TellZim News was one of the first media outlets to report on the corruption allegations after publishing a story titled ‘Bikita residents petition authorities over poor service delivery’ on April 30, 2022 before pursuing the story with another article titled ‘Government investigates Bikita RDC car scandal on May 9, 2022.
Other follow up articles were done including ‘Local government finally visits Bikita RDC’ on July 20, 2022, Bikita RDC vehicle purchase scandal-ZACC yet to act (July 23, 2022), Bikita RDC scandal needs parliamentary debate-MP Musakwa (June 11, 2022), Bikita RDC-residents on collision course (October 10, 2022) and lastly Bikita RDC squanders US$ 36 000 on four boreholes (June 4, 2022).
