BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has disclosed that some of its staff members have been caught engaging in illegal foreign currency exchange dealings.
This was revealed on Wednesday during a council meeting at the chambers.
Proportional Representative councillor Melisa Mabeza expressed concern over the fact that the elderly residents were being turned away at the revenue hall.
“I noticed that senior residents were being turned away at Revenue Hall. Referring to my visit to the Revenue Hall on March 4, I observed illegal foreign currency dealings by council staff members,” she said.
Mabeza urged council members to desist from engaging in foreign currency dealings within the local authority’s vicinity.
“I urge council staff members to desist from illegal foreign currency exchanges. The code of conduct should be applied,” she said.
Ward 25 councillor Aleck Ndlovu seconded the idea, stating that some of the staff members have been brought to book.
“The issue of illegal foreign currency dealings had been reported,” he said.
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“An audit was done and four staff members were brought before a disciplinary board. The audit evidence was overwhelming.
“The disciplinary board’s verdict dismissed one staff member and the other three were given written warnings.”
Ndlovu said the dismissed staff member appealed and was reinstated back into council.
“The disciplinary hearing had a lot of irregularities. The audit evidence had not been considered. There was a need to send a very strong warning to all the involved staff members,” he said.
Ward 8 councillor Edwin Ndlovu noted that the dismissed staff member had appealed to the General Purposes Committee, hence after considering the appeal, the staff member had been reinstated.
Meanwhile, Ward 17 councillor Sikhululekile Moyo noted that residents were complaining about inaccurate monthly bills.
She said council had continued with debt collection.
Moyo also enquired why at times residents with small amounts of money had received summons while those with large amounts had not been issued with summons.
She said some of the residential properties were owned by elderly people.
Ward 26 councillor Mpumelelo Moyo explained why summons were sent to even residents owing small amounts.
He referred to the debt collection ageing analysis, saying even a small amount would have accrued interest over a period of time.
Moyo said issues concerning Revenue Hall would be looked into and dealt with.
Mayor David Coltart bemoaned the poor service at Revenue Hall.
“A resident had complained about long queues at Revenue Hall,” he said.
“The resident claimed to have been in the queue from 10am, only to be served around 3pm.
“It is prudent to emulate cities like Johannesburg in South Africa, where everything is done online.”
