…urges supporters not to vote for incompetent leaders

TellZim reporter

Citizens Coalition for Changer leader Nelson Chamisa has warned elected councillors to desist from corrupt activities to fatten their pockets and improve own lives at the expense of rate payers.
Chamisa made the call during a Thank You rally at Mucheke stadium on August 14 where he was thanking supporters for the party’s resounding victory in March 26 by-elections in which they scooped all the four wards that were vacant in Masvingo urban.
Chamisa called the three councillors namely Rocky Kamuzonda of ward 3, Alec Tabe of ward 4, and Richard Musekiwa of ward 7, who were present with the fourth one being Daniel Mberikunashe of ward 5 who was not at the rally before telling them to desist from corrupt activities at council.
“You must not go to council to fill your stomachs or to be allocated stands for your personal benefit. You must make sure you deliver to the people who elected you into office.
“As CCC, we urge the electorate to recall all those elected individuals who pursue personal gains at the expense of rate payers. If an elected representative does not come back to the people who elected him/her, then just recall that person. We do not want a situation whereby one is elected; vanishes only to resurface during election time. I urge you to rebuke those leaders who appear in their constituencies or wards once a year like Christmas holiday,” urged Chamisa.
The call by Chamisa comes at a time tongues are waging in Masvingo with corrupt tendencies being alleged towards some of the political outfit’s new councillors whose life styles dramatically changed for the better barely five months after their coming into office.
Wards 3 and 4 councillors Rocky Kamuzonda and Aleck Tabe are now driving Isuzu double cab and Toyota D4D Hilux single cab respectively though the two dismissed any corruption allegations saying they had own hustles that enabled them to purchase such vehicles.
The two councillors denied having been involved in any shoddy deal but sources claimed that the two were given residential stands in the leafy suburb of Rhodene though local authority statutes say they should get stands in their wards.
Tabe’s wife is alleged to have gone to the Town Clerk with a marriage certificate querying how council gave her husband a stand without her knowledge.

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI-Residents recently send an SOS to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to investigate land corruption involving the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, July Moyo.
Moyo is being accused of using Full Life Open Arms Africa Investment (FLOAAI) to sell the 750 hectares of land on the remainder of Buffalo Range which was awarded to both Chiredzi Town Council (CTC) and Chiredzi Rural District Council (CRDC) in 2017 for urban expansion.
However, the planning process is already at an advanced stage without prior knowledge to the beneficiary local authorities.
FLOAAI did a feasibility study for the 750 hectares which is jointly owned by both councils after being awarded the land by government because they had run out of expansion land.
Both councils allegedly engaged FLOAAI a few years ago and were hoping to begin servicing the land as a precursor to the sale of the stands for residential, commercial and industrial purposes.
In an interview Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association (CHIRRA) chairperson Jonathan Muusha expressed displeasure towards the administration of the 750 hectares on the remainder of Buffalo Range suggesting the minister needs to be investigated over land corruption.
“As CHIRRA, we are very disappointed and we appeal to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to intervene and reverse the deal which was engineered during the commission in 2017 and with bogus resolutions. The Minister of Local Government July Moyo should be investigated on the issue of this developer, Mr Madanyaya.
“We will not achieve housing by all and the Upper Middle Income economy vision by 2030 won’t be attainable if this level of corruption is not brought to a halt. Both local authorities should make a rescind resolution and take legal route to stop this madness,” said Muusha.
FLOAAI began selling the remainder Buffalo Range urban expansion land in 2021, where Andrew Chigudu, a Lecturer at University of Zimbabwe and Director of Projects and Planning wrote to Audrey Madzima, the general manager of Enhanced Mortgaging and Housing P/L offering them a sale of 500 undeveloped stands measuring 240 and 300 square meters in a letter dated May 17, 2021.
“Our company, Full Life Open Arms Investments (FLOAAI) Pvt Ltd hereby offer your company Enhanced Mortgaging and Housing (EMH) 500 undeveloped residential stands that measures 240 m2 and 300 m2 from our sub-division layout (SL 1109) approved on 15 March 2021 in accordance with memorandum of Agreement with Chiredzi Town Council and Chiredzi Rural District Council.
“We offer you these 500 undeveloped stands at a price of US$ 2 500 each,” wrote Chigudu.
In response to this letter, EMH’s Madzima wrote a letter to Chiredzi Rural District Council (CRDC) asking for confirmation of the deal between FLOAAI and the two local authorities before it paid $1 250 000.00
“We are kindly requesting for the following information with regards to particular projects being undertaken in Chiredzi. Project status, land ownership details, please note that we have been offered stands in the area with a sub-division layout (SL 1109) which was approved on the March 15, 2021. You may refer to the email attached,” wrote Madzima.
Chiredzi Town Council Acting Chairperson Ropafadzo Makumire who also has experience in urban development highlighted that there is nothing procedurally done as the project is being administered somewhere else not by the two local authorities.
“Procedurally, what is supposed to happen is that the two local authorities administering the land, which is the remainder of Buffalo Range should enter into a joint venture agreement approved through a Statutory Instrument (SI) from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.
“After the Statutory Instrument gazette, a joint committee is formed by the two local authorities comprising of councillors from both councils who will elect the chairperson. The committee will be responsible for sending project proposals to the Private Partnership Unit, which will then submit it to cabinet for approval. None of this has happened but it is rumoured that even the feasibility study has been approved.
“So if we had that committee, to date, you could be getting updates from the joint committee but right now there is no information on what is going on the ground, councillors are in darkness, they don’t know what is happening and we are hearing it through rumours that the land is being sold. If you request for a contract document between the two councils you cannot be furnished with such information. To be honest, I have never seen that contract, no one is disclosing that information so the project is not being run by the two councils. It is being run from somewhere else not here in Chiredzi. The officials also don’t know anything, we only hear that the late Muchatukwa did the contractual documents but we have never seen them,” said Makumire.
One of FLOAAI Directors Pastor Godfrey Nelson Madanyaya who hid his identity behind his cellphone said they are currently waiting for the Environment Management Agency’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before the local government moves to officially commission the project.
“Don’t listen to those lies being peddled against FLOAAI, even the minister is not involved in this project. We are currently waiting for the EIA from EMA in order for local government to officially commission the project. You don’t have to write about something that does not benefit your future young man,” said Pastor Madanyaya.
He also added that the two local councillors will be responsible in the sale of the land.

…as councillor suggests they could improve water situation

Emmanuel Chitsika

The boreholes that were drilled in Masvingo Urban’s wards 3, 4, 5 and 7 in the run-up to the March 26 by-elections continue to be a recurrent tool of use in the political arena with the ruling Zanu PF manipulating the situation.
During a full council meeting held at Masvingo Civic Centre on August 4, deputy Mayor Wellington Mahwende said council should not worry over the water situation in the city with the summer season already underway as those boreholes lying idle could be used to lessen the burden.
Mahwende went on to say fellow councillors have no reason to crack heads over the perennial challenge as what is needed is for them (Zanu PF councillors) to approach their political leadership to hand over boreholes to council for use.
“There is no need for council to crack heads over this issue of boreholes lying idle in the wards after being drilled and council should not refer back the matter to committee in charge. What is needed is just for us to approach government who are the ones responsible for the drilling of those boreholes to finish off what they started.
“If you look at Rujeko C (Jazire shopping centre) there is a borehole and the plan is to solarize it before it functions. So we are going back to tell them that for us (Zanu PF) not to be a laughing stock, let us go and finish the projects we started.
“If we just tell them to finish up the works we started, be rest assured that they would finish up and residents would benefit a lot,” said Mahwende.
His response was to the issue raised by Masvingo Mayor Collen Maboke who had proposed the issue of water situation security be referred to committee for further deliberations.
“I think the issue needs to be referred back to the committee because right now we haven’t received the boreholes as no one has bothered to officially hand them over to council. From there on we can plan the way forward, as of now we do not even know if they are actual boreholes or not,” Maboke sarcastically said.
Acting Town Engineer Kudzaishe Mbetu promised that the water situation would be normal though there would be a slight reduction in the number of hours residents would get the precious liquid.
“Right now we are busy working on water infrastructure so that we can rectify all leakages that may cause or promote water shortages so that supplies remain constant during the summer.
“We are not prepared to embark on water rationing because the moment we do so some of our pipes may burst as a result so our aim is to always keep them saturated.
“We are going to maintain what we have been doing all along and there should be no need to ration water,” said Mbetu.
The boreholes whose drilling raised a lot of questions than answers have triggered debate among residents as far as the footing of the costs are concerned.
However, they were later abandoned after Zanu PF candidates who had used them for campaigning purposes performed dismally losing the four wards to rival Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
Speculation is rife that the boreholes are likely to be utilized for campaign purposes during the run up to 2023 elections.
Zanu PF has often been accused of using government resources like food, farming inputs among others to further party interests during election periods.