KWEKWE Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo has made a dramatic U- turn and fired embattled city treasurer Albert Zingwe, 10 months after he ordered council to unconditionally reinstate him with full benefits.
Zingwe was last August dismissed from work after a four-member inquiry team found him guilty of eight out of nine dismissable offences involving fraud and theft, but he bounced back after Chombo reversed the local authoritys verdict.
But mayor Shadreck Tobaiwa refused to budge and closed Zingwe out of office.
In a letter to Tobaiwa dated May 09 reference XR/18/32 Chombo, while acknowledging his August 5 directive to the contrary, said after sending a four-member probe team to investigate the local authority, he was now convinced Zingwe committed the offences he was found guilty of and should be fired.
My minute of even reference, dated August 5 is relevant. In my aforementioned minute I directed that Zingwe who was dismissed by (council) for negligence (which dismissal) was upheld by Local Government Board be reinstated until I conduct an inquiry of the state of affairs at council.
It may please you to know that I have since dispatched an investigation team to carry out the inquiry, which submitted a detailed report of its findings and recommendations for my consideration.
The said teams report also indicated that indeed Zingwe as head of department was liable for the infringements in his department and therefore guilty as accused, it is therefore against this background that I wish to uphold council as well as Local Government Board decision that Zingwe remains dismissed, wrote Chombo.
In the interim it is advised to expeditiously consider filling the critical vacancy left by Zingwe to enable smooth operations.
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Audit manager Morris Mutema has been acting city treasurer.
