Yeukai Munetsi

Gweru-City Council is under investigation after the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently revealed that the local authority’s utilized US$ 6 870 815 of estate funds for recurrent expenditure.
The revelation was made on September 5, 2022 by Gweru Urban MP Brian Dube who also chairs the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in a Gweru residents WhatsApp group and said the actions by Gweru are in violation of section 30 (p) of the Urban Councils Act.
“We are doing audit analysis right now as Public Accounts Committee and Gweru City was red-flagged and identified by Auditor General Mildred Chiri’s 2020 audit report as operating without an accounting policy and Procedure Manual and no updated Asset register.
“There is no evidence of ownership of five vehicles purchased by council. A Mazda T3500 bought by GCC is registered in the name of a Mr T35. So there is a serious risk of misappropriation, fraud or material errors,” said Dube.
Gweru Residents Forum chairperson Charles Mazorodze said council is using 2014 issues as an excuse instead of being answerable to citizens.
“It’s a scapegoat that council is using to escape from previous council resolutions. With the current setup, there are still councillors who served since 2014. What needs to be done is put strong control mechanisms like internal audits that are robust so that we can have a track record of various issues raised.
“It is critical that a proper and updated register is put in place, otherwise some of the properties might be misappropriated or council may not get revenue from some of the assets or properties. Council should own up and address issues that residents are demanding to know in terms of accountability,” said Mazorodze.
He added that the biggest challenge with council leaders is that they behave more like technocrats.
“We have a big challenge where we have policy makers behaving like policy implementers because they are justifying issues that are not up to standard with reference to their deliverables.
“If they put it as a standard of practice that we have accounts that are not audited or late then it becomes a serious problem of corporate governance wherein we are not in conformity with laws that govern how all councils should operate. We expect council through their mother bodies like Association of Rural District Councils (ARDCs) to lobby the Auditor General’s office as council themselves because they are the ones affected by failure of the auditor to issue out auditors. They should lobby at the highest level engage Urban Council Association of Zimbabwe to make sure issues are addressed promptly rather than short changing citizens,” added Mazorodze.
Gweru resident Tafadzwa Makore said this was a worrisome issue as it showed elements of lack of transparency.
“Purchasing and registering council cars under individual names, worse still without consulting residents and adding 10percent on bills every month shows some worrisome elements of lack of transparency,” said Makore.
However, contacted for comment Gweru Mayor Hamutendi Kombayi said he is not aware of such issues but only read them after Dube posted them.
“I just read about that from MP Brian Dube. I don’t have any informed detail about the matter,” said Kombayi.
Auditor General Mildred Chiri in her 2020 audit report said Gweru council utilizing estate funds for recurrent expenditure instead of capital expenditure as required by the Urban Councils Act while at the same time they unprocedurally allocated residential stands to minors.
Quite a number of local authorities were found wanting in various aspects of management though it remains to be seen whether they have fixed the problems to date.

…As local authority delivers backhoe loader, refuse truck

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI- Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Ezra Chadzamira last week applauded Chiredzi Town Council (CTC) for efficiently utilizing its 2022 chunk of devolution funds amounting to ZW$ 200 million towards acquiring capital equipment as well as construction of an Early Childhood Development (ECD) block.
Chadzamira said the developments will go a long way in improving service delivery.
CTC received the devolution funds from the central government and used them towards acquiring capital equipment including the recently delivered backhoe loader and refuse truck as well as the construction of an ECD block.
A few months ago the local authority also acquired two tractors using devolution funds as well as three service vehicles which were purchased using internal funds.
The local authority is also awaiting delivery of a fire tender vehicle which they managed also to acquire using devolution funds.
Addressing dignitaries at Chitsanga Hall last week, Chadzamira lauded the local authority for managing to put their allocation of devolution funds to good use towards attaining the upper middle income economy vision by 2030.
“The newly acquired capital equipment including the refuse truck and backhoe loader as well as the construction of an ECD Block using devolution funds here in Chiredzi will go a long way in improving the lives of the people towards attaining vision 2030 of an upper middle income economy.
“Let me express my warm congratulations to Chiredzi council at the same time sent my sincere gratitude to his excellence, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the government of Zimbabwe for their strong support and assistance to this commissioning of capital projects.
“This is a milestone towards the attainment of the vision 2030 of whose sole agenda is achieving an empowered upper middle income economy. Council had challenges of erratic water supplies that caused shortages of portable water for many years but this was solved by the devolution initiative and water supply has improved immensely. The public toilets were not functioning well; perennial sewer bursts due to ageing pipes, all these challenges were addressed under the devolution initiative.
“Let me take this opportunity to commend again Chiredzi Town Council for using devolution funds with efficiency to impart service delivery to this beautiful city and citizens must be on board,” said Chadzamira.

Ward 2 councillor Obert Ngwenya who was representing the chairperson of the council said the face of the town is transforming due to the aid given by government to local authorities.
“As eluded in your commissioning speech, guest of honour, the face of Chiredzi town is transforming and achievements of the Second Republic are visible for all to see. Our prayer is that you continue to support council as our resident minister in driving infrastructure development programmes through devolution funding as this will help grow the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Masvingo province as well as attainment of vision 2030,” said Ngwenya.
A few months ago, Zanu PF councillors were subjected to disciplinary action for allowing Gibson Hwende (Chiredzi Town Council Chairperson) to commission two tractors that were bought using devolution funds as well as service delivery vehicles purchased through internal funds which later then facilitated for the re-commissioning of the project.

Beverly Bizeki

Deputy Minister of Public Service and Social Welfare Senator Lovemore Matuke has challenged the Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) to be the first tertiary institution to come up with peer to peer support groups and be champions of anti-drug abuse and suicide prevention.
Speaking at the International Day against drug abuse and Illicit Trafficking and World Suicide Prevention belated commemorations held at GZU’s Robert Mugabe School of Education on September 7, 2022, Matuke urged multi stakeholders to coordinate and collaborate in fighting against drug and substance abuse for the sanity of the nation.
“While government departments are responsible for drug and substance abuse as well as suicide prevention strategies, there is need to emphasize more on peer to peer support. Universities and communities should have champions of anti-drug abuse and suicide prevention and provide information to support their friends. I am challenging the youths at Great Zimbabwe University here today to be the pioneers of this initiative.
“Suicide prevention efforts require coordination and collaboration with multi stakeholders for example education, justice, labour, agriculture, business etc.
“Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death with the youth being the most affected, a cold relation exists between suicide and mental health disorder in particular depression and alcohol use disorders,” Matuke said.
He went on to pledge US$500 towards the introduction of the initiative at the University.
The call to fight against drug and substance abuse comes at a time when men’s mental health issues and suicide are trending topics on social media circles with other stakeholders in the tourism sector already hosting campaigns for the awareness of these two issues.
Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira said drug and substance abuse menace has robbed the sanity of the nation as it is not only affecting families but has far reaching consequences.
Globally Zimbabwe is ranked among countries with high rates of suicide with statistics released in 2020 showing that between 2015 and 2019 over 2000 men committed suicide and 500 women died of suicide.
Researches have shown that the suicide gender paradox show that men commit suicide three times more than women and women attempts suicide four times more than men.
The reason for that gender difference is that men are alleged to use more lethal methods than women and they do not seek treatment where as women are quick to seek medical attention when they attempt suicide.
Glenlivet Resort in Masvingo is set to host a marathon as a men’s mental health awareness campaign in the fight against suicide on September 24 this year.

…As more than 2.5k are arrested within 6 months for drug abuse

Brighton Chiseva

Zimbabwe is ranked among the top drug abusers on the continent among people between the ages of 15 and 19 with more than 2 500 people having been arrested for drug abuse related cases in a period of six months.
This was said at the belated International Suicide Prevention and International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking commemorations held at Great Zimbabwe University (GZU)’ s Robert Mugabe School of education recently.
Director of Social Development in the Ministry of Public Services and Social Welfare Tawanda Zimhunga who presented on the state of drug abuse in country said Zimbabwe is on top of the ladder in terms of drug abuse in Africa among the age range of 15 and 19 saying drug abuse was more prevalent in mining towns, schools and tertiary institutions while youth as young as 10 already use illicit drugs.
“According to research, Zimbabwe has the highest number of 15 to 19 year olds in Africa who engage in heavy episodic drinking with 70.7 percent being males and 55.5 being females and this was worsened by Covid-19 which triggered a sharp rise in the use of Crystal Meth (Mutoriro),” said Zimhunga.
He went on to say a number of factors contributed to the rise in drug abuse but the major factors were Zimbabwe being a transit country as well as the cheap price of some backyard brews.
“A number of factors have been attributed to among them availability, drugs are trafficked to countries like South Africa and Botswana through Zimbabwe and a transit country becomes a consumption country.
“When truck drivers stop at shops for a rest, they are selling drugs to our people and some of them are being brewed in backyard industries so the availability of drugs and cost of the drugs which the youth can afford is another factor,” added Zimhunga.
He went on to say other factors include peer influence and a general culture of drinking at parties as a country and other events but said they were working flat out to make sure that drug issue is addressed.
“As a country, we want to focus on prevention programmes and ensure that we arrest this menace, just like HIV and Aids, Covid-19, we want to make sure that we prevent the use of drugs. Awareness campaigns on the dangers of drug abuse are key in the success of the prevention programmes therefore the inter-ministerial committee on drug and substance abuse are doing awareness campaigns. We want to go to mining towns and clean up Zimbabwe operation by the Police targeting hotspots will continue,” he added.
He called for the need of establishing stand-alone rehabilitation centers to cater for survivors of drug abuse saying it was not proper for them to mix with people with other conditions.
“We realized the need for stand-alone rehabilitation centre facilities and in the medium term, government will establish stand-alone rehabilitation centres for drug and substance abuse survivors. We want the survivors to be rehabilitated. We don’t want them to be rehabilitated elsewhere mixed with people with other conditions,” he said.
Speaking at the same event GZU Pro Vice Chancellor Academics Professor John Chimbari, who was representing Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Jonas Zvobgo, said it was important to have a conversation around raising awareness on suicide prevention, substance and drug abuse among young people as it was topical.
“Just to provide a sense of the seriousness of the matter, I want to share with you some important statistics on arrests made by the Zimbabwe Republic Police from January to July 2022. 2 618 people were arrested, of that number 1 976 are males while 642 are females and 2 061 of the total number are above the age of 32 while 870 are below that age.
“1 748 supplies were arrested and 2 082 end users were also arrested within the same period and 21 drug bases were destroyed within that similar period. A total of 557 people were referred to court and 74 convictions ranging from community service to 10 years were delivered with 483 trials pending,” said Prof Chimbari.
He went on to say the number of suicide cases in Zimbabwe remains high in the country and could worsen now as evidenced by reports shown in some sections of the social media.
Zimbabwe Republic Police’s Criminal Investigative Department (CID) Drugs and Narcotics Detective Sergeant Netty Kundizeza warned youngsters against using skin enlightening creams and body enlargement creams which she said had long after effects.
She also warned against the use of aphrodisiacs which she said should be prescribed by doctors.
The Inter-ministerial committee is premised on five pillars that is supply reduction pillar chaired by ministry of National Security, demand reduction pillar that is chaired by the ministry of Youth, Sport and Recreation.
Ministry of Health and Child Care chairs harm reduction and treatment and rehabilitation pillars.
The fifth pillar that is the reintegration is chaired by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.