Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe has been cleared of reported abuse of her Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocation by her constituency.
This followed reports that Khupe, who is also Makokoba MDC-T MP which constitutes Ward 8 (Thorngrove) and Ward 7 (Mzilikazi/Makokoba), had allegedly abused the CDF allocation.
Residents complained that renovations at Thorngrove Pre-School had taken too long to be completed and that there was poor workmanship by the contractors, who were paid $10 000 for the job.
The contractor at one moment renovated Khupe’s house in Bulawayo, and suspicion was she had used her authority to clandestinely award the lucrative tender to her builder.
But, chairman of the Makokoba Constituency Development Fund Councillor James Sithole told residents this week Khupe had played no role in the the alleged abuse of the fund.
Sithole told residents at a meeting at Thorngrove Pre-School in the constituency that Ward 8 Councillor Mackenzie Sibanda had awarded the tenders to contractors.
But, Sibanda was hostile when NewsDay sought his comment yesterday.
“I am very busy right now and you are actually disturbing me,” he said, before he hung up his phone. Sithole, however, said: “Ward councillors and the ward development committees were at the forefront of looking for contractors, choosing them as well as paying the contractors for all the projects.
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“DPM Khupe was never at any given time part of those activities. We were just reporting to her on what we had done on the ground. Sibanda was in charge of the Thorngrove Pre-School project as it is in his ward. He was responsible for looking for the contractors.”
