BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI
War veterans from Matabeleland North are piling the pressure on the authorities to deal with alleged corruption and mismanagement at the MDC Alliance-run Victoria Falls City Council following the arrest of mayor Somvelo Dhlamini.
Dhlamini was arrested last week on allegations of defrauding the local authority of thousands of US dollars through an irregular purchase of a housing stand.
He was denied bail by Hwange regional magistrate Collet Ncube on Monday after prosecutors said he was the one behind a group of war veterans and members of the Hwange Residents Association, who last week forcibly removed town clerk Ronnie Dube from his office.
The group accused Dube of corruption and mismanagement, but Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) investigators pounced on Dhlamini a day later.
Following the dramatic events at the city council, the Matabeleland North provincial executive of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association said it will convene a public meeting at Chinotimba Hall on Friday to discuss the issue.
Bonface Sibanda, the provincial war veterans association chairperson, told VicFallsLive in an interview that the meeting was meant to discuss the corruption allegations amid charges that Zacc investigators were taking sides.
“We will be at Chinotimba Hall from 4PM on Friday and we want to discuss with the residents and all other affected stakeholders the rot that is happening in Victoria Falls,” Sibanda said.
“The mayor’s issue is clearly a scam because when our Hwange war veterans went to get Dube out of office to pave way for investigations by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission the tables turned against the mayor, who had called them in and we have heard about the thousands of dollars that were given to (ZACC investigators) to turn the tables against Dhlamini.
“We have been reading about these issues in the media and other people coming to tell us about spending months without water.
“This is something that just doesn’t make sense in such a town and this is the reason we are stepping in and if Dhlamini is corrupt, he is at the right place and Dube also has to be investigated because when he was forced to leave office last week, he repeatedly refused saying he would want to step down with Dhlamini as they committed corruption together.”
Sibanda said contributions from the residents were going to be documented and will determine the way forward.
The position by the war veterans followed the move by Zanu Pf district coordinating committee chairperson Mathew Muleya to distance the ruling party from the group that raided Dube’s office.
Muleya issued a statement saying: the party would like to distance itself from the incident’ and claimed Zanu PF was a constitution-abiding party that does not use violence to solve disputes.
Sibanda said Muleya’s statement reflected an individual’s position.
“The meeting is not on political grounds, but on principles,” Sibanda said.
“That (statement) was written by Muleya in his individual capacity and without any consensus and as war veterans we cannot be stopped by these corrupt individuals, who hide behind the party’s name.
“We went to war based on principles of equality and freedom and what is happening in Victoria Falls is against those principles.”
Victoria Falls ratepayers have been boycotting the city council’s 2023 budget consultation meetings demanding answers over various allegations of corruption.
Residents boycotted 2023 budget 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, buying 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.
Last month, 300 residents also signed a petition demanding that investigations be done against corrupt council officials.
They said they had proof of corrupt deals by the town clerk and councillors which has resulted in poor service delivery.