Graves scandal rocks Chitungwiza
THE rot at Chitungwiza Municipality continues to raise a stink amid indications that suspended councillors allocated relatives and party members free graves when they died, depriving council of $50 000 in potential revenue.
This was after council passed a resolution in 2013 giving vagrants free burial sites.
Councillors reportedly manipulated the system for their own benefit.
Graves cost $30 for an adult and $15 for children.
Council nets $2 000 a month from grave sales.
The caretaker commission appointed by Government to turn around the fortunes of Chitungwiza, and led by Mr Madzudzo Pawadyira, has since stopped giving free graves.
“We have since stopped offering requests for free graves,” said Mr Pawadyira. “The commission has discovered that we were losing funds as each councillor was allocated at least two graves for free per month and that facility was not limited to the indigent.
“It was up to the councillor to select whom they wanted to be exempted from paying for the graves. We have since put a stop to it and everyone will pay as of now.”
Mr Pawadyira said the system was done on partisan lines.
“These councillors manipulated the system by offering the graves to their family members, friends or even their political party members,” he said. “This has been going on for some time and we only discovered that when people started coming in with little slips of paper to say that they wanted to use the facility.
“When we then delved in, we found out that it was not being used for the purposes it was intended.”
Mr Pawadyira said from now on, people should buy graves to bury their own.
“The community should bury their own as I am proud to do the same to my own relative,” he said. “In any event, ours is not the most steeped in terms of burial charges. Currently, we charge $15 for children and $30 for adults. It is a fair amount.”