Scandal rocks Hwange Local Board

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

Hwange Local Board (HLB) has been rocked by a scandal involving the sale of prime land for a song, it has emerged.

It is alleged HLB sold a six hectares land for US$20 000 when its value is US$1.5m.

Councillors are now demanding an emergency meeting to discuss the contentious issue.

The land in question was sold to a company that wanted to set up a coke oven.

Contacted for a comment, HLB spokesperson, Dumisani Nsingo said councillors believe they were not properly informed.

“There is no rift or tiff between councillors and council management. But all I can say at the moment is that councillors feel that they were not properly informed about the sale of land,” Nsingo said.

He added: “As such they have demanded a special meeting with (HLB) to deliberate on the issue before the matter is tabled before a full council.”

The councillors are also demanding the release of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) report.

But Nsingo told Business Times: “Pertaining to the ZACC report, councillors and the management are very much aware that the release of the report was temporarily stopped by the Ministry (of Local Government) to pave way for further investigations into other issues within council.”

Greater Hwange Residents Association coordinator, Fedelis Chima said the full board meeting has been aborted twice because of the contentious issue.

“Last week on Wednesday, a full council meeting was aborted again for the second time, because councillors protested that the two issues (land in question and ZACC report) were not on the agenda,” Chima said.

He added: “So, as Greater Hwange Residents Trust we are saying at least we are happy that councillors raise very critical issues.

But at the same time we are worried why the ZACC report itself is not on the agenda. Also, we are worried that an industrial stand which is worth US$1.5m was sold at a song for US$20 000 without going through council procedures.”

Councillors play an oversight role over the executives of local authorities.