Muntuloko Mwembe
LUPANE Local Board and Kusile Rural District Council are under fire after it emerged that they have for the past six years allegedly been abusing funds meant for roads rehabilitation from the Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA).
Kusile RDC is in charge of rural Lupane while the Lupane Local Board administers the town centre.
The latest report by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) indicates that the funds were at some point diverted to council staff salaries and travel subsistence allowances.
“Lupane Local Board has been abusing monies received from Zimbabwe National Road Authority meant to upgrade road rehabilitation projects since 2015 to date where some monies are sometimes channelled to either council staff salaries or travel subsistence allowances for the council staff as well,” the report noted.
“This trend had been practised since 2015 when the Kusile Rural District Council started receiving ZINARA monies from the central government. Despite the council having received a tractor and grader for road constructions, the council is failing to maintain roads in this rural area.”
“The money allocated to Kusile RDC is mainly for road rehabilitation especially for building bridges and road maintenance. In 2015 the council received US$35 000 which was embezzled without a trace and was never accounted for,” the report further stated.
The report further highlighted that the two councils are yet to reveal ZINARA funds for 2021 in the process questioning their public finance management capacity.
The report also cited a poor road network in Lupane town despite the fact that the Lupane Local Board has for years been receiving funds from Zinara.
