Councillor grabs mayoral vehicle, visits rural home

18 Jun, 2017 - 02:06 0 Views
Councillor grabs mayoral vehicle, visits rural home Clr Collet Ndhlovu

The Sunday News

Vusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
COWDRAY Park councillor Collet Ndhlovu has raised the ire of fellow councillors after he recently took one of the mayoral vehicles and conducted his own personal business including travelling to his rural home in the Midlands Province.

Clr Ndhlovu reportedly even demanded that the council fuels the car and provides a driver for his escapades.
Contacted for comment, Clr Ndhlovu confirmed the allegations. However, he said he did that in his capacity as the city’s acting mayor.

“As we are speaking right now I am using the vehicle, I see nothing wrong at all because I believe I am entitled to it,” said Clr Ndhlovu.

However, other Bulawayo councillors who spoke to this publication rubbished Clr Ndhlovu’s sentiments saying while he was the acting mayor, while Clr Martin Moyo, was on leave, it did not mean he could abuse his powers by misusing council resources.

They revealed that the matter was set for deliberation during the council caucus where they would have to reprimand him for his actions.

“When we heard this issue from council staff we were genuinely shocked because even he knows that what he did is against council policy. Being an acting mayor is just more of ceremonial and it does not give him the prerogative of abusing council resources.

“What makes this issue even more severe is that it is coming at a time when the Government and even our party (MDC) is watching our every step. Imagine if we are audited right now how we will explain his trip. We will surely have to reprimand him for this,” said the councillor.

Another councillor who is part of the general purposes committee which selected Clr Ndhlovu as the acting mayor said he should have approached them to seek guidance rather than make a unilateral decision.

“What happens is that we rotate being an acting mayor among members of the general purposes committee and this time it was Clr Ndhlovu’s turn. However, being an acting mayor does not mean one inherits all the mayor’s benefits, it is just a ceremonial position. With this in mind, Clr Ndhlovu was therefore wrong to take the mayoral car, with driver and fuel and travel all the way to Gokwe. Yes, he is entitled to one of the cars in the mayoral pool but only for council business,” said the councillor.

However the city’s Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube came to Clr Ndhlovu’s defence saying as the acting mayor he was entitled to full use of the mayoral vehicle.

“The mayor is on leave and the councillor is acting mayor. He lost his father and he’s entitled to that privilege on acting capacity. As we talk we are with him here in Victoria Falls, he joined us for a workshop after the funeral,” said Mr Dube.

The mayoral pool of vehicles has recently been at the centre of controversy after the local authority bought a Chevrolet Trail Blazer worth $63 000 for its mayor, barely three months after handing him a new upclass Mercedes Benz GLE 250 valued at $118 000.

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