Chiredzi council without by-laws, housing policy 20 years on

TWENTY years after Chiredzi was granted town status, it is still operating without by-laws and policies which guide its day-to-day running.

Analysts have described this as gross incompetence or a deliberate ploy to cover up corruption by the town authorities.

The issue was exposed by two council executives who were facing criminal abuse of office charges and were acquitted after council failed to produce its housing policy in court.

Residents associations are always at crossroads with the council as they push for by-laws to be crafted.

Investigations by NewsDay revealed that council is operating without several by-laws and policies.

Animals roam the streets of Chiredzi, disturbing the flow of traffic because there are no bylaws to deal with stray animals.

United Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association spokesperson Bernard Dachi said the absence of a housing policy is either a sign of incompetence or a deliberate move to cover up corruption.

“How can you have a council running without policies and bylaws for over two decades? There is no housing policy, no vehicle policy, no retirement policy, no traffic by-laws, no animal by-laws — the list is endless. Even a burial society has regulations — what about a whole town council?

“This lack of by-laws and policies led one council official to herd his cattle in one of council’s premises. Council is losing millions of dollars because of this incompetence. They are now crafting a housing policy because they were exposed in court.

“If you remember in December last year, Chiredzi Town Council lost a case in which two of its employees were dragged to court for allegedly corruptly allocating residential stands to each other.

“The magistrate ruled that there was no violation of council regulations.”

Dachi said it was surprising that a town like Chiredzi allocated hundreds of residential and commercial stands in the past 20 years without a housing policy.

Town secretary Charles Muchatukwa, who has been at the helm for the past 15 years, played down the issue of not having a housing policy, saying the local authority had other mechanisms to account for all allocated stands.

“We only had housing policy drafts and we are now putting it in black and white, not only to deal with corruption, but other issues as well,” he said.