Govt lifts three Bulawayo councillors’ suspension
THE Government has lifted the suspension of three of the five suspended Bulawayo City councillors, after failing to find evidence nailing the trio to allegations of corruption, barely two months after their suspension.
Councillors James Sithole (Ward 7), Charles Moyo (Ward 9) and Mzama Dube (Ward 25), were notified of the lifting of the suspensions on Friday night through a letter from the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere.
However, embattled Deputy Mayor, Gift Banda is still not off the hook as he and Ward 21 councillor, Reuben Matengu will have to appear before a tribunal to defend their cases. Confirming the developments, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Engineer George Mlilo, said while the three had their suspensions lifted this should not be viewed as an opportunity to do as they please as the ministry would be keeping close tabs on the operations of the local authority.
“I can confirm that we have lifted the suspension of three of the suspended councillors on a technicality. The remaining two will now have to appear before the tribunal which has already been appointed and are expected to defend their cases there, it is the tribunal which will then advise us on what measures to take against these two,” said Eng Mlilo.
He said they were now waiting for the tribunal to advise them on the date the two’s case would be heard. According to the letters sent to the three despite the lifting of the suspensions they were warned against any further corruption and advised to focus on contributing towards the smooth functioning of the local authority.
“After taking into account your submissions vis-à-vis the allegations and issues related thereto, the reprieve is based on a technicality that the deal to acquire the said property has not been concluded while the intention to unprocedurally acquire still remains.
“On this note you are hereby reinstated as a councillor, however, you should effectively exercise your policy making functions and positively contribute towards smooth management of the city by considering advice from technocrats on such matters that impact proper administration and good governance,” reads part of the letter.
Ministry sources revealed that Clrs Sithole and Moyo were saved by the fact that although they had applied for the said town house stands they had not received any offer letter from the local authority.
Clr Dube on the other hand had been accused of violating terms of an agreement of sale by selling a car park stand that he had bought from the local authority under the ministerial directive. It, however, turned out — according to the sources — that the said stand had not even changed names hence it was difficult to prove any irregularity.
The five were suspended as part of recommendations that were made by a Government investigating team that was despatched by the ministry to investigate a number of corruption allegations within the local authority. Clr Banda, who is set to appear before the tribunal had a number of corruption allegations levelled against him inclusive of the purchasing of a piece of land at Ascot Racecourse for the construction of town houses. He bought the 3,5 hectares of land for a paltry $130 000. Clr Banda also got a lease for land to construct a social club at Hume Park. It is further alleged that the local authority allocated a school site stand to a company called Green Pigeons Trust, in November 2013, a company which is allegedly linked to Mr Banda.
The suspended deputy mayor was also in the eye of the storm regarding the upgrading of the Basch Street Terminus popularly known as Egodini amid allegations that he was linked to the company — Terracotta — which had been awarded the $60 million project. The Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) initially raised the red flag over the rate at which councillors were allegedly grabbing land in the city leading to the Government sending an investigation team to get to the bottom of the matter.