Victoria Falls Residents Demand Councillors’ Lifestyle Audit
Victoria Falls residents have called for a lifestyle audit for councillors and council management following allegations of corruption in the MDC Alliance-led city council.
The calls were made during a public meeting held at Chinotimba Hall on Friday.
The meeting, which was attended by more than 300 people, was convened by war veterans’ leadership from Matabeleland North to discuss the problems within Victoria Falls City council.
This follows the arrest of mayor Somvelo Dhlamini a week ago on fraud allegations.
Residents also claim that town clerk Ronnie Dube and other councillors were also involved in corrupt activities related to the parcelling out of commercial stands.
Speaking during the meeting, Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association (VIFACORA) secretary general Trymore Ndolo said they have evidence against Dube and some councillors. He said:
They sold our land for US$4.2 million, how can land depreciate from US$14 million?
I’ll be clear and straightforward, some of the councillors came to us as Vifacora to report that they told us that when stand 8300 (comes up for discussion) we should agree to the sale as there was going to be bribery money and they surely got US$ 400 000 and this is why they have been fighting against each other.
(Stand) 1811 is the size of a stadium and cannot be sold to a councillor, and that stand was valued at US$ 5 million.
We protested even to the mayor at a full council meeting resolution where we were called to endorse its sale in bond (RTGS) and we’ve got all the information.
The people, who were the masterminds (are known) and we queried how a stand worth US$ 5 million can be sold for $11 million.
So this is what residents have been arguing about and we are saying there should be a lifestyle audit of everyone involved in these corrupt deals.
A resident, who spoke at the meeting, claimed that some councillors were now living in opulence yet a few years ago “they were selling sweets”. Said the resident:
The war veterans are accusing Dube of conniving with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to cover up his alleged corruption by engineering the mayor’s arrest. | VicFallsLive
