. . . as abuse of public funds increases, Masvingo city auctions bus for allegedly RTGS$20k
Kimberly Kusauka
Heads must roll at many local authorities following gross mismanagement of funds and maladminstration in general as unearthed by the Auditor General Mildred Chiri’s recent report and the oral evidence that came out during Parliamentary Portofilio Committee on Public Accounts (PAC) hearings recently.
Top council managements have appeared before PAC to answer on allegations of mismanagement of public finances and resources and the majority were found wanting.
However, what is worrying is the inaction or reluctance by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) after both the auditor general’s report and PAC meetings in which one of ZACC commissioners was ever present.
Failure by ZACC to take action has resulted in residents losing trust and confidence in the whole system, with some even threatening not to pay their bills in time.
Latest and topping the list among residents’ grievances is the auctioning of council bus by City of Masvingo for allegedly RTGS$20 000 on November 13, 2021. This infuriated residents that they demanded answers from council management and that ZACC should also get involved as they suspect corruption following allegations that the person who bought the bus is linked to one senior council employee.
Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (MURRA) director Anoziva Muguti condemned the decisions being made at Town House saying they should always consult residents on issues that involve ratepayers’ monies.
“We were shocked and residents are not happy especially about the auctioning of the bus in RTGS. The auction was also supposed to be a public auction but it seems like the auction was private; I do not know why such a bus in good condition can be sold for that little – RTGS$20 000, that is surely a joke,” said Muguti.
Millions of dollars have been lost by councils through many leakages that include poor control systems, fraud, theft, funds misappropriation among other things which disadvantage residents who are at the receiving end of increased rates yet poor service delivery.
Most, if not all the local authorities cited in the auditor general’s report have serious service delivery issues, some of which have become perennial and require urgent attention but it seems the running of operations at these institutions is largely to blame for the sorry state they are in.
The sale of the bus by city of Masvingo was shrouded in mystery prompting a heated debate on TellZim WhatsApp groups as to what could have transpired after councillors raised the ‘controversial’ circumstance under which the bus was allegedly sold for RTGS$20 000.
Masvingo Town Clerk Engineer Edward Mukaratirwa could neither confirm nor deny the allegations but said council will carry out investigations and announce the findings to the public. Mukaratirwa said the issue was dealt with the responsible committee, the disposal committee, and the highest bidder wanted the bus for US$17000.
“We engaged an auctioneer to assist us to do a public auction of those assets as per law because we dispose assets as per Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDPA) Act and the relevant regulations. My understanding is that the highest bidder wanted the bus for US$17000, but social media was awash with reports that the bus went under the hammer for RTGS$20000. The office of the town clerk is carrying out investigations and the findings will be made public,” Eng Mukaratirwa said.
He said they weighed the assets after finding an auctioneer and marked prices for major assets in United States $ which included the bus, old vehicles and other equipment and advertised the date for the auction November 13, 2021 following conditions that bidders pay deposits in US$.
“After identifying the auctioneer, we assessed the assets and put reserve prices on the major assets that included the bus, old vehicles and other big equipment and we put the reserve price in US$. We advertised now for the public auction to be held and set the date as the 13th of November 2021.
“So the conditions of sale were such that the bidders were supposed to pay their deposits in US$ and also that on successfully biding for any assets they were going to pay in US$,” said Eng Mukaratirwa.
However, the Town House seems to be in chaos as councillors raised the issue during a full council meeting on December 01, accusing management of auctioning assets at giveaway prices.
Councillors Sengerayi Manyanga (Ward 10), Against Chiteme (Ward 8) and Sellina Maridza (Ward 1) were all confused about the exact amount the bus was sold at as the say various figures during the full council meeting. Maridza said RTGS$24000, Chiteme said RTGS$17 000 whilst Msanyanga said RTGS$20 000. This is clear evidence that the auctioning of council assets was not as clear as the management want residents to believe.
”We want to know the exact priced for the bus because we are hearing that it was auctioned for RTGS$20 000. Residents are asking us about it and we do not have answers so can you tell us the exact price,” asked Manyanga.
How the auction ended up selling in RTGS also when it was initially agreed that all assets were to be auctioned in US$ remained a mystery – even the Town Clerk had no satisfactory answer.
“Unfortunately, along the way the auctioneer and the disposal committee changed the conditions which had been set by council in terms of collecting the proceeds and sales in US$. So when council management discovered that a meeting was held with the two and as we speak right now as the TC, I have launched an investigation in order for me to be able to get to the bottom of the issues. We want to know why the auctioneer and the committee went on to agree to auction the assets in RTGS because what the Act says is that the proceeds should be used to acquire new assets, so how are we going to do that with the said amounts in RTGS,” said Eng Mukaratirwa.
Councillor Manyanga then rendered full council meetings useless arguing that all the resolutions they make are never implemented and management sometimes do as it wishes against the decisions made by the city fathers.
Manyanga said full council meetings have since been reduced to mere talk shows with no implementation of the resolutions that would have been made.
“I think it is unfair that you chase away people from the full council meeting, they are the ratepayers, so its unfair practice that we are doing here at council. It is useless to keep on doing these meetings when no resolutions are implemented.
“We agreed that we were going to build Mucheke rank but up to now there is grass and no progress being made. We agreed that there will be a revenue collection point at Exor but to no avail. These are becoming mere talk shows and we do not know what to tell residents now because they expect quality service delivery from us. I think full council meetings should be abandoned until all the pending resolutions are implemented. We cannot continue making resolutions that are not implemented,” said Manyanga.
Councillor Manyanga also too a swipe at some management officials for coming to work late all the time saying they should shape up or ship out.
“I come here around 8 am every day and I see most of the managers arriving after nine. They are not even serious about providing quality service delivery yet they get their salaries from ratepayers’ monies. That culture must stop and I suggest that a logbook should be put in the TC’s office so that everyone logs in as he or she arrives,” said Manyanga.
In her report AG Mildred Chiri mentioned that of the 59 issues she reported, 34 related to the area of governance while 25 were related to service delivery, employment costs, procurement and revenue collection, all this relating mostly to misappropriation of ratepayers funds and resources which are supposed to be channelled towards service delivery.
Among other issues, Masvingo City Council, in the most recent Oral Evidence session by the PAC, was grilled over its lack of a proper lease register which captures all council rented properties.
In documents released to PAC, telecoms giant Econet Wireless was flagged as one of the leasees who allegedly had overdue lease issues, with some of the leases for its 16 base stations having expired, dating back to 2013, a fact that was disputed by Econet representative Engineer Kezito Makuni during the PAC Oral Evidence session who said their leases were up to date.
Service delivery in all councils is in dire state, with most of them having projects that annually appear in budgets but with little to no progress especially on water and waste management, both solid and liquid.
In Harare, most residential areas go without running water for months, at a time when officials are appearing in court for embezzling council funds while lying to residents about service delivery.
Some of these institutions award tenders to contractors who do not honour their contracts and on top of losing ratepayers’ funds, service delivery is greatly compromised.
Bindura Municipality awarded Pelgin Consulting Services a tender to supply a front-end-loader in December 2018, which they paid US$90 850 for, but it took years to be delivered, and it is still not clear if it eventually came.
That equipment could have made a bigger difference in service delivery for the local authority, but if such kind of equipment takes two years to be delivered, then it leaves a lot to be desired if ever roads are going to be repaired, among other things.
Chiredzi Rural District Council also awarded Solutions Motors, which was blacklisted by the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) recently, a tender to supply a Toyota Fortuner vehicle in October 2019, and the local authority is now demanding a refund after the supplier failed to deliver.
Solutions Motors has outstanding issues with Mwenezi and Karoi RDCs among other local authorities, but it kept getting recommended to these local authorities despite its poor record in supplying, all pointing to dodgy dealings in tender awarding.
The Dangamvura Water Project in Mutare has become a mantra at almost every council engagement meeting, but it still remains a pipe dream as works keep stalling and resuming irregularly.
Perennial water woes bedevil Masvingo urban, and it has been reported that there is an estimated 40 percent loss in the water reticulation system, with council confirming that a large number of water meters are not working (26 percent of all Rujeko water meters are not working).
Eng Mukaratirwa said a council task team was carrying out surveys on water meters and the results will be published after they complete each zone.
“Confirmed 26 percent for Rujeko zone and at the moment we are in the process of purchasing water meters to replace the non-functional ones. As for other zones our Non-Revenue Water task team is still carrying out surveys and as they complete each zone, the results will be made public,” Mukaratirwa said.
Chegutu has the same problem, where it was reported that 80 percent of the municipality’s households did not have functional water meters, while 50 percent of water distributed from the treatment plant is lost through leakages according to the AG’s report.
Masvingo residents during recent council budget consultations complained over the continuous recurrence of the Mucheke Trunk Sewer project on the budget when the project which started some years ago is far from completion.
In the 2022 proposed Masvingo council budget, the trunk sewer project is allocated ZW$100 million from devolution funds meant for the local authority.
About US$4 million previously went down the drain on the trunk sewer project, without much having been done except for trenches that were dug and ended up being a health hazard to residents.
Having said all this, ZACC has remained a toothless bull dog as local authorities continue to plunder ratepayers’ money. Residents associations demanded heads to roll at local authorities but those with powers have remained reluctant which made them accomplices in depriving citizens quality service delivery.
