Gokwe suspends town secretary

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GOKWE town’s new Zanu PF-led council has suspended acting town secretary Clemence Madondo with immediate effect and appointed council finance director Jockoniah Nyoni in his place.

GOKWE town’s new Zanu PF-led council has suspended acting town secretary Clemence Madondo with immediate effect and appointed council finance director Jockoniah Nyoni in his place.

DESMOND CHINGARANDE OWN CORRESPONDENT

This comes at a time council workers have gone for four months without pay.

Town council chairperson Ester Senga said Madondo was facing allegations of mismanagement, including a pending court case for allegedly misusing council funds.

She said suspended council chief administrator Alexander Nyandoro had been recalled to his position after a year’s absence while accountant Kudakwashe Mdzungairi is now acting finance director.

Nyandoro was suspended by the MDC-T-led council on allegations of mismanagement and of working in cahoots with former town secretary Tapiwa Marongwe.

The strategic changes followed claims that some top managers were reportedly sabotaging the Zanu PF council’s development agenda to protect former MDC-T councillors from prosecution.

Senga said the changes were not politically motivated, but that the local authority had resolved to make wholesale changes at the top to reflect the new thinking.

Out of six Gokwe town councillors, Zanu PF has five while MDC-T has one.

“We had to rest Madondo because of the trial he is attending in court over his alleged abuse of council funds,” he said.

“This is to ensure the investigation will not be jeorpadised by his presence.

“Nyandoro was called back because we found out that allegations against him had been politically motivated.

“We wanted to minimise labour costs from being sued by workers for the error we made ourselves.”

A Zanu PF councillor, who refused to be named, claimed a named official continued to take instructions from former MDC-T councillors to the detriment of the local authority.

Nyoni, who is acting town secretary, said the new administration would prioritise the payment of outstanding salaries.

“Salaries of workers and development will be our first priority as we have a plan to maximise our revenue,” he said.

“Right now our coffers are empty and we appeal to workers to understand the situation we are in and at the same time we have to honour our duties because they have families to look after.”

Gokwe Residents’ Association chairperson Tranos Tazviwana Mudzota said they will push for the development of the town rather than fight “political battles”.

Meanwhile, a local businessman John Ncube implored councillors to stop bickering as that would result in poor service delivery.

The Civil Protection Unit last year moved to stop gullies from ripping the town into two after the poor road network was swept away by the rains.