{"id":97598,"date":"2024-08-15T12:10:30","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T10:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zanu-pf-councillors-resist-govt-interference"},"modified":"2024-08-15T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T12:18:10","slug":"zanu-pf-councillors-resist-govt-interference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zanu-pf-councillors-resist-govt-interference","title":{"rendered":"Zanu PF councillors resist govt interference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>ZANU PF councillors in Mudzi, Mashonaland East province, have accused the government of interfering in their operations following a move by the Local Government ministry to suspend Mudzi Rural District Council chairperson Arnold Katsande in what councillors described as trumped-up accusations.<\/p>\n<p>Katsande, according to the councillors, is being persecuted after the local authority suspended its head of finance Royal Round following an audit that unearthed misappropriation of more than US$500 000.<\/p>\n<p>Round is a Zanu PF Mashonaland East provincial member.<\/p>\n<p>After the internal audit, Round was suspended together with council\u2019s environmental officer Tendai Musandiriri.<\/p>\n<p>Musandiriri was arrested and charged with fraud, with Round yet to be arrested despite a police report filed against him.<\/p>\n<p>The 22 councillors have since written letters to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Senate President Mabel Chinomona raising concerns over the suspension of Katsande.<\/p>\n<p>Chinomona, who also Zanu PF national women\u2019s league boss, is one of the most senior Zanu PF officials in the province.<\/p>\n<p>In the letters, the councillors argued that Katsande should not be persecuted for a resolution that was passed by all of them after following due processes.<\/p>\n<p>All the 22 councillors appended their signatures to both letters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe human resources management and administration committee recommended that disciplinary measures be taken on members based on the investigation report presented. Royal Round\u2019s disciplinary hearing was done on May 9, where he was found guilty of gross misconduct due to non-billing and under billing of mines,\u201d read the letter dated July 4, addressed to Chinomona.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe disciplinary hearing committee made a determination to dismiss him from service&#8230; Council was prejudiced of more than half a million United States dollars. Councillors are now feeling victimised for carrying out their duties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the letter addressed to Mnangagwa gleaned by this paper, the councillors defended Katsande saying he was being victimised.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe humbly ask you Your Excellency to hear our appeal. If we erred as a council, it was not a one-person job, but all of us as 22 Zanu PF councillors,\u201d the letter read.<\/p>\n<p>According to an internal audit report dated March 12, conducted by one T Hondoyachepa, more than 30 gold mines were missing in the council database despite claims by owners that they were paying bills to council.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe miners were never billed and the council lost revenue amounting to US$268 275 for the period January 2022 to December 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinance department did not bill 31 registered miners in the database, whose bills total US$385 000 for the period January 2022 to December 2023,\u201d part of the audit report read.<\/p>\n<p>The report also added that the finance department did not bill land levy totalling US$268 787,50 for the period January 1, 2022 to December last year for mines which were not operational.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. ZANU PF councillors in Mudzi, Mashonaland East province, have accused the government of interfering in their operations following a move by the Local Government ministry to suspend Mudzi Rural District Council chairperson Arnold Katsande in what councillors described as trumped-up accusations. Katsande, according to the councillors, is being persecuted after the local [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":97597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,35,12,2715],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-97598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"category-policy","11":"category-to-homepage","12":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Zanu PF councillors resist govt interference - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ZANU PF councillors in Mudzi, Mashonaland East province, have accused the government of interfering in their operations ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zanu-pf-councillors-resist-govt-interference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zanu PF councillors resist govt interference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ZANU PF councillors in Mudzi, Mashonaland East province, have accused the government of interfering in their operations ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zanu-pf-councillors-resist-govt-interference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-15T10:10:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-15T12:18:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/08\/sm_1723711630.41937.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"568\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zanu-pf-councillors-resist-govt-interference\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zanu-pf-councillors-resist-govt-interference\",\"name\":\"Zanu PF councillors resist govt interference - 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