The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Government has ordered that Victoria Falls Town Clerk, Mr Ronnie Dube must be held accountable for a number of irregularities within the local authority after the mayor raised a red flag.
The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works vindicated the city’s mayor, Councillor Somvelo Dlamini for demanding that he be held accountable for a number of graft charges. Residents also at one-point locked Mr Dube’s office demanding that he be brought to book.
Councillor Somvelo Dlamini
The Ministry, in response dispatched an investigating team to the city to investigate the allegations against Mr Dube. According to findings of the enquiry that have already been presented to the local authority Mr Dube has been found culpable on a number of charges including a scenario where he allegedly wrote to a certain company awarding them a 15-year lease when no allocation had been done.
“The Town Clerk, Ronnie Dube must be held accountable and culpable for writing to Jackelberry informing them that they had a 15-year lease which was being processed by council when in fact no allocation and resolution had been passed by council. By so doing, the Town Clerk usurped the powers of council to resolve on this critical matter an issue that the executive was expected to implement after resolution.
“The Town Clerk Ronny Dube must be held culpable and accountable for allocating the Chinotimba Brewery to Jackelberry investments without a council resolution and authority. The Town Clerk must be held accountable for variation of the employment of his contract by applying for a vehicle loan and requesting for a discount fully aware that it was not provided for,” read part of the findings.
Mr Dube has been ordered to pay the loan in full as the council was prejudiced of US$20 075. The Victoria Falls Town Clerk was also found guilty for presenting matters in Full Council without first presenting the matters to committees for deliberations, where the role of the executive is to carry out research and ventilate matters and provide options for councillors to deliberate on before making recommendations or resolutions.
“Council should make use of council committees so that issues can be deliberated at length and ventilated. Management should give correct information to councillors and stakeholders to avoid misinformation. Council should follow the law and policy guidelines on the disposal and leasing of Council properties this should be reflected in the Housing Policy.
“The Town Clerk must be held accountable for running council without Work Plans and failing to properly appraise his management during the course of the year. Management must have Work Plans in place for every year and must be reviewed during their implementation,” read the findings.
The report further states that; “The Town Clerk must be held culpable and accountable for failing to have policies in place and for following his own practices in the allocations of council properties which is not guided by any document from council.”
The Local Government Ministry has since instructed the Hwange District Coordination office to engage the Victoria Falls Municipality to see to it that all due processes are followed and the complainants are given feedback
“It is instructive that as a representative of Central Government on the ground you ensure that all due processes are followed and the complainants are given feedback as matters raised to the Minister by members of the public are of great concern to governance architecture of the local authority,” reads a letter to the office.
Mr Dube was in October last year locked out of his office by members of the Hwange District Residents Association together with the ruling party’s War Veterans league, on allegations of corruption. The two groups had alleged that the Town Clerk was initially suspended by Clr Dlamini but had resisted the suspension and kept on forcibly coming to the office, allegedly to get rid of evidence surrounding his corruption allegations.
