> Let's Forward this Post Everywhere ❕ *Harare City Council plagued by ‘dirty hands’* https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDkMuTFCCoNC13vvo2V _*©Eragon Online News*_ *_(Follow this channel to read more...)_* *Group Link:* https://chat.whatsapp.com/CDyzvhE1ey5H89lorhyIvn HARARE City Council has been run by unscrupulous individuals for decades and their “dirty hands have been in the cookie jar”, a legacy situation that has affected its operations and persists to the present day, retired High Court judge, Justice Maphios Cheda, has said. He said this yesterday while briefing journalists soon after delivering a report to President Mnangagwa at State House after leading a Commission of Inquiry into Governance Issues around Harare City Council. President Mnangagwa constituted the Commission of Inquiry led by Justice Cheda in May last year, following complaints about deteriorating service delivery in the capital city. In his brief to the media, Justice Cheda described operations at Harare City Council as “dirty”. “Let me say in conclusion, there were too many dirty hands in the cookie jar. Too many dirty hands in the cookie jar. They are still there,” said Justice Cheda. He said the Commission of Inquiry was a platform through which residents aired their views after President Mnangagwa took heed of their grievances on the deteriorating service delivery offered by Harare City Council. “It is the ratepayers and residents of Harare who wanted to say something, residents wanted to make a complaint. We provided them with a forum, so that is where our comfort is derived from. It is you people who wanted to express your views and you said what you wanted to say. We have compiled the report and we are comfortable with the report,” said Justice Cheda. He described President Mnangagwa’s decision to constitute a Commission of Inquiry as consistent with his undertaking at his inauguration that he was a listening President. “So the report belongs to His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe and he has it with him. I no longer have the report,” Justice Cheda said. Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said they expected more commissions of inquiry to be set up to look into the state of affairs of most urban local authorities. “This Commission is borne out of the decay in our local authorities, the way our urban local authorities are being run. Harare City Council being number one and Bulawayo City Council being number two. Going forward, we have made recommendations that we need to have a thorough investigation of all our urban local authorities because there is a lot of decay,” said Minister Garwe. He said President Mnangagwa will have to go through the report before deciding on the next course of action. “The President has to go through the report and give us the way forward. But we are happy that we have submitted the report to His Excellency in terms of the mandate he gave to the Commission,” Minister Garwe said. President Mnangagwa constituted the Commission with a mandate to investigate issues of corporate governance, financial prudence, and adherence to local governance laws and policies among others. The Commission, which was established in terms of Section 2 (1) of the Commission of Inquiry Act, held public hearings in which it invited several stakeholders that include serving council officials and those who had left council employment. Other members of the commission included local governance expert Steven Chakaipa, Mr Norbert Phiri, Ms Lucia Gladys Matibenga, and Ms Khonzani Ncube. The Permanent Secretary for Local Government and Public Works, Dr John Basera, served as secretary. During the course of its work, Mr Norbert Phiri was replaced by Harare lawyer Mr Tafadzwa Charles Hungwe. During inquiries, several allegations of financial malfeasance, corruption and failure to adhere to corporate governance issues emerged. Some of the irregularities that came out include the unlawful allocation of over 5 000 stands ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections, with 350 housing cooperatives illegally regularised. It also emerged that the town clerk, Engineer Hosiah Chisango, was earning US$27 000 monthly, which could rise to US$30 000 with perks, while the lowest-paid executive was earning US$15 000 monthly, none of which had been approved by the Local Government Board. City directors, who allegedly had “no payslips”, spent US$124 000 on luxury foreign trips, in addition to US$1 million on top-of-the-range vehicles during the election period. The commission uncovered a web of scandals, including the disappearance of US$105 million, annual losses of US$70 million due to inadequate monitoring systems, and the vanishing of a US$4,5 million loan facility allocated to Harare Quarry. It also emerged that 100 head of cattle were being stolen monthly and that 60 000 houses were not being billed. Herald