The Sunday News
RURAL district councils rarely make headlines in the Press compared to the metropolises which are always under the spotlight for issues ranging from poor service delivery to corruption. But that is not so with the “little” Tsholotsho Rural District tucked in the western part of Zimbabwe in Matabeleland North Province.
Tsholotsho District is endowed with a lot of natural resources such as timber and wildlife just to mention a few. It shares its borders with the country’s largest game park, Hwange.
However, it seems its natural resources have turned from a blessing to a curse as year in and year out the rural district council has been making headlines all for the wrong reasons with accusations and counter-accusations over the abuse of those natural resources especially the wildlife.
Of late, the jury is out for the council officials following reports in the media that the Tsholotsho community could have lost nearly US$600 000 due to the under-pricing of elephants by the Tsholotsho Rural District Council.
The local authority is said to have sold 25 jumbos worth about US$40 000 each for a measly US$10 000 each and this was done without the knowledge of the local community, who are the major stakeholders.
While Tsholotsho RDC chief executive officer Mr Nkululeko Sibanda and council chairperson Councillor Esau Siwela have claimed that everything was done above board, the police are smelling a rat and have since instituted investigations. Some members of the council management and councillors have made a bee-line to the police for questioning on suspicion of corruption.
While it is too early for us to conclude what really transpired on that transaction, what cannot escape any reasoning person is that indeed the jumbos were really sold for a song, something that does not sound right.
We therefore find ourselves taking the side of members of the community fronted by a local trust, Zhwane Development Trust that there are high chances that something fishy might have happened.
What is also worrying is that the selling of game especially elephants by the Tsholotsho RDC is always laced with controversy and irregularities.
Over the years senior council officials have either been fired or forced to resign over the same issue.
“We believe that the Tsholotsho RDC has been captured by a few individuals. Lately, chief executive officers employed by the council are either fired or resign when they are facing corruption charges.
I think the last CEOs have been fired or forced to resign because of misconduct. We believe that while the council management and councillors have a case to answer, the biggest problem are the concession hunters.
They are the ones that are causing problems in council as they employ divide and rule tactics. They have captured council officials to act in their favour,” charged Zhwane Development Trust chairman Mr Absalom Dube in a front-page story carried by our sister paper, Chronicle on Friday.
We could not agree more with Mr Dube and we call upon for a full-scale investigation over the matter. There is no room for corruption anywhere. President Mnangagwa has declared zero tolerance on corruption and there have been a number of high-ranking officials’ cases brought before our courts.
On Thursday Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world to commemorate International Anti-corruption Day, a pointer that this scourge has no room in our midst.
While we do not want to jump the gun on the Tsholotsho issue, we hope the law enforcement agents will get to the bottom of the investigation and if some people are found on the wrong side of the law, then they should face the music.
We also believe there is a need for the authorities to keep a keen eye on operations of such bodies as rural district councils as a lot of rot might be taking place there.
