President Emmerson Mnangagwa has warned local authorities that he would fire officials, if they engage in corrupt activities within their councils.
According to the Auditor-General’s Report for Local Authorities 2018, there has been gross financial mismanagement of council affairs, where officials abuse and mismanage ratepayers’ funds as well abuse of office.
Speaking at the commissioning of 76 ZUPCO buses in Bulawayo Friday, President Mnangagwa warned would be corrupt officials that he would fire them should they be found guilty.
He said this after noting that Treasury had increased budgetary allocations meant for devolution, as his administration was serious about its implementation.
“We want full implementation of devolution and the minister of finance is increasing allocation budgetary towards devolution, which means there will be more funding made available to provinces and rural district councils, in order to assist you increase service delivery,” he said.
In the same breath, President Mnangagwa warned that he would not hesitate to fire those who abused funds or office.
“However, I warn those running rural and urban councils to shun corruption. If you shun corruption, I will also shun removing you, otherwise those who commit corruption, me and them will part ways,” he warned.
The Auditor-General’s Report for Local Authorities 2018 listed evidence of gross mismanagement, fraud, negligence and general ineptitude by councillors running different local authorities, indicating that councils were not managed and run properly, as most of the books were in shambles.
Some councils had not even submitted audits while others had no policies or procedure manuals for accounting.
