RESIDENTS in the City of Gweru have challenged the government to release a report on an investigation launched in February this year amid concerns that the outcome may never be made public.
In February this year, Local Government and Public Works minister Daniel Garwe appointed a team to probe allegations of mismanagement and abuse of office by management and councillors in the Midlands capital.
The investigating team, which was chaired by the ministry’s chief director of local authorities Khonzani Ncube and included deputy director Edward Njoma, Kudakwashe Chakabva and Batanai Manwa, was expected to report to Garwe 10 days after its appointment.
According to a ministry memo, the team was supposed to investigate policy-makers and management of the local authority over the use of Estate Funds to purchase vehicles for council officials in 2024 and the alleged conversion of aerodrome land to personal use by mayor Martin Chivhoko.
According to the team's terms of reference, it was tasked with establishing whether Gweru City Council implemented recommendations made in the ministry’s land audit of 2019, verifying the conditions behind the Go Bear deal between council and its new partners.
Garwe said the investigation team should also look into any other issues related to or incidental to the above and service delivery.
Stakeholders, in unsolicited interviews, called on Garwe to make the results of the probe public.
However, Local Government and Public Works ministry spokesperson Gabriel Masvora said the ministry was yet to receive the report.
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“When an investigation is instituted, there are terms and references and when it is done the appointing authority receives the report for his or her consideration. At no point during an investigation will the investigators tell you whom they would be interviewing,” he said.
“They just do everything within the stipulated time frame.”
Chivhoko refused to comment on the matter.
