In a heated Chitungwiza council meeting, councillors accused the under-fire acting town clerk, Japson Nemuseso, and his managers of mishandling a tender for the town’s valuation roll exercise.
The councillors blocked the tender that was controversially awarded to Grosbrook Real Estate, questioning the staggering $780,000 that council had agreed to pay for the exercise.
According to sources who spoke to ZimCommunity News, many councillors, especially from the audit committee, had to recuse themselves from the stormy meeting.
Nemuseso is reported to have admitted that the $780,000 figure initially shocked him, but he was unable to provide a convincing explanation for later signing the contract without the knowledge of Mayor Rosario Mangoma and the councillors.
“The suggestion to rescind the tender and resubmit the exercise was approved. We even went so far as to demand that a committee be formed to look into how this happened,” a council member stated. “Curiously, this led to a lot of councillors’ names being supplied, and they recused themselves and walked out in protest.”
Research revealed that other local authorities, like Chinhoyi and Marondera, had paid about $55,000 for comparable exercises, which led council members to contend that the $780,000 number was wildly exaggerated.
The council members decided to form a commission of inquiry to look into the incident after accusing Nemuseso and his managers of not following the law.
Tafadzwa Kachiko, the public relations officer for Chitungwiza, who had earlier said d he had not seen any newspaper queries regarding the value roll data elsewhere, committed to responding with information on the most recent events.
But all of the questions had been directed at Kachiko by Mayor Mangoma, so Nemuseso was left to take the brunt of the council members’ criticism.
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