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By Joyce Mukucha
Local Authorities failure to abide with the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution as well failure to comply with their institutional policies and operational frameworks is resulting in ugly corruption activities, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZAAC) has revealed.
This year’s findings of the Commission’s compliance spot-check exercises found out that eight Local Authorities namely: Umzingwani, Mutoko, Mudzi, Makonde and Zaka and three town Councils, Norton, Karoi and Chegutu respectively were not adhering to laws, policies, regulations, manuals and best practices.
Speaking during the Inaugural Implimentation Matrix Signing Ceremony in Harare on Thursday where eight Local Authorities signed implimentation matrices as an agreement to and acceptance of the findings from the Commission’s compliance spot check exercises, ZACC Chairperson Justice Loice Matanda Moyo said the level of corruption by Local Authorities was disgusting.
“Based on compliance spot check and investigations conducted in rural and urban Councils, an ugly pattern of corruption was noticed. Most conspicuous issues established were the unlawful interferences by some Councilors in the Executive and Adminstrative functions of Council through manipulation of Council Management decisions on stand allocation, procurement, employee suspension, and other day to day Council running of business which falls outside Councilors’ mandate.
“It is disturbing to reveal that some Councilors in other Local Authorities were found to have blatantly abused their condition of service benefits of purchasing residential stands at a concessionary discount of 40%. They would apply for a stand under the 40% benefit entitlement and instead for the said stand they would resell it to third parties at full purchase price without paying any money to Council,” she said.
She highlighted that in most Councils visited by ZACC teams, Procurement Management Units were non-existent with non-adherence to procurement procedures, conflict of interest in allocation of residential and commercial stands to to family members and relatives.
In certain Local Authorities, it has been highlighted, there were glaring abuse of land banks and stocks emanating from endowment payments.
Also, corrupt practices by Town Secretaries and Council Chief Executives has been described as out of sync with the principles of transparency and good corporate governance enshrined in the Constitution and need to be stopped.
“Instead of allocating endowment houses on the waiting lists, Council Management would allocate the houses to themselves on lease to purchase basis depriving other members of the Public that have been waiting long on the housing waiting list for an opportunity to have a roof above their heads.”
Though Justice Matanda-Moyo applauded the Government for its current efforts to mitigate the effects of sanctions through promotion and funding of development projects at both national and local level, she pointed out that the disbursements of devolution were abused with funds meant to promote sustainable socio-economic development and the betterment of the livelihoods of Zimbabweans being diverted for personal use.
“The disbursements of devolution funds to Local Authorities for Community Development Projects stand out as one of the progressive actions by the Government in support of the National Development Strategy 1 under the following pillars: devolution, social protection, infrastructure and utilities.
“However, we noted that during ZACC compliance spot-checks devolution funds have been abused. Such abuse of those limited resources results in poor service delivery as this deprives the public their rights to housing, health, clean water, food, cultural identity among others.”
Local Authorities were warned that if they fail bto comply to operational frameworks and policies, in the next exercises, ZACC in partnership with the Ministry of Local Governance and Public Works will take punitive measures against them.
“Let me advice Local Authorities that in our quarterly review exercise,ZACC will treat levels of performance reflecting red compliance as a serious of Implimentation Matrix agreement signifying a red flag for corruption. In view of that we will not hesitate to engage with the Ministry of Local Governance and Public Works and recommend punitive measures against the responsible Councilors and Management,” she said.
Justice Matanda-Moyo stressed that local Authorities play a significant role in the growth of society as well as the stability and improvement of people’s daily lives, therefore they need to desist from corruption and execute their duties in a manner that is consistent with with the purposes and objectives of the Constitution.
“I would like to remind Councils that Local governance is the bedrock of national progress. Our key economic activities such as mining , agriculture and tourism take place in local authority areas which are under your governance.
“Most of the population in Zimbabwe are in the Rural District Councils. Zimbabwe is in your hands, as Local Authorities are responsible for the equitable allocation of national resources and ensuring the participation of local communities in the determination of development priorities within their areas.”