Mayor’s arrest exposes serious Victoria Falls council infighting

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The arrest of Victoria Falls mayor Somvelo Dhlamini has exposed serious infighting in the MDC Alliance controlled city council pitting management against the political leadership as both sides are trading accusations of corruption against each other.

Dhlamini is spending the weekend in custody after he was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) on charges that he fraudulently acquired a housing stand illegally.

The mayor, who appeared at the Hwange regional magistrates court on Friday and was remanded in custody to tomorrow for the bail ruling, had earlier in the week been linked to the violent removal of town clerk Ronnie Dube from his office by war veterans and members of the Hwange Residents Association.

Dube was accused by a group of about 15 people that stormed his office before locking him out of ignoring his suspension by Dhlamini over alleged corruption cases.

Prosecutors revealed that the town clerk was the one, who laid charges against the mayor.

Dhlamini seen shaking hands with President Emmerson Mnangagwa

The prosecution said:  “On the 15th of August 2022 and at Victoria Falls City Council offices the accused Somvelo Dhlamini, who is the mayor of the city council and in his capacity as such unlawfully and intentionally made a misrepresentation and purported to be Valentine Munyaradzi Maseko who he had earlier on in 2003 purchased stand 1139  by making an application using the name Valentine Munyaradzi Maseko to Victoria Falls City Council under the Wood Road Housing Scheme upon which the council offered him stand number 1771 Wood Road which needed a deposit of US$25 000.”

It was alleged that Dhlamini paid US$10 000 and the balance was supposed to be paid within five days, but he failed to settle the debt and paid $7 500 000 instead.

The mayor was accused of misrepresenting himself as Maseko and defrauded the city despite a 2020 full council resolution that said people applying for residential stands must “not have benefitted before through allocation, purchase or lost stands through repossession within Victoria Falls City.”

Dhlamini is accused of prejudicing council of US$15 000 and a potential prejudice of US$66 462.75.

Dhlamini has previously been arrested over the same allegations

The latest fight between the mayor and town clerk erupted last month when Dhlamini suspended Dube after accusing him of being corrupt.

Dube ignored the suspension and continued reporting for work which  led to his second suspension on September 20, which was also ignored.

Dhlamini last week told VicFallsLive that a group of about 15 people, who included war veterans and members of the Hwange District Residents Association, stormed Dube’s office at around 4PM and instructed him to pave way for investigations into the allegations raised against him.

He said he did not know that the group was plotting the raid until they called him into Dube’s office to table their grievances, which led them to kick him out before locking the office and putting a key blocker.

Zanu PF’s Hwange district disassociated itself from the war veterans that raided Dube’s office.

Dhlamini was previously suspended from the mayoral position by the MDC Alliance when it was still led by Nelson Chamisa, only to be reinstated by Douglas Mwonzora after he seized control of the opposition party.

Last year, Dube was also arrested by ZACC on allegations of corruption, but was later acquitted by the same court after the magistrate said the state failed to provide convincing evidence against him.

Victoria Falls ratepayers have been boycotting the city council’s 2023 budget consultation meetings demanding answers over various allegations of corruption.

Residents boycotted meetings held last month and demanded to be first addressed by council over the alleged irregular sale of commercial stands and the US$89 000 loan that was given to Dube to buy a car, a luxury car for the mayor and leasing of breweries.

The Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association has since written a letter to relevant government ministries, police and parliament asking them to investigate the allegations.

They said they had proof of corrupt deals by the town clerk and councillors.

Victoria Falls residents, mainly in the high density suburbs, have endured over six months without water and the perennial shortage has been worsening since August.

Residents argue that poor service delivery is caused by mismanagement, although council recently told VicFallsive that the issue of water shortages had to do with rising demand during the summer season.