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‘No waiting list for Byo, Beitbridge homeseekers’

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BULAWAYO City Council does not have a waiting list for prospective house and stand seekers, Auditor-General (AG) Mildred Chiri has said in her latest report on local authorities.

BULAWAYO City Council does not have a waiting list for prospective house and stand seekers, Auditor-General (AG) Mildred Chiri has said in her latest report on local authorities.

By XOLISANI NCUBE

In her report for the period 2012-2016 sent to Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa last week, Chiri noted that Bulawayo, Beitbridge Town Council, Hurungwe, Mberengwa and Muzarambani did not have registers for prospective homeowners.

“Bulawayo City Council did not have a waiting list for prospective houses and stand seekers,” the report noted, adding this made it difficult for the city fathers to develop a proper housing policy.

The report stated that Bulawayo’s capital assets were susceptible to abuse and misappropriation due to a shambolic asset register.

“In addition, the council did not retain a copy of the receipt or the receipt number as proof of payment of the $16 deposit for one to be on the waiting list.”

Chiri said the entire process was manipulable as there were instances where stamps on the application forms that represent proof of payment were manually adjusted.

“The risks here are that of financial loss to fraud on sale of stands,” the AG noted.

The council, however, claims that it has an up-to-date register with 115 000 applicants on the housing waiting list.

On Beitbridge Town Council, the audited report for 2015 stated that the municipality had no records of stands allocation and sales, exposing it to fraudulent activities such as double allocation of stands and illegal sales.

The AG also raised alarm on Gokwe Town Council’s 2014 audited reports amid suggestion that the municipality did not have formally-adopted policies in key areas such as housing, information technology, procedure manual and recruitment.

Also not spared by the AG was Plumtree Town Council whose 2015 accounts and wage bill were found to have no supporting documents.

“The council executives were being paid education allowances outside payroll. As a result the allowances were not being taxed. This allowance was not on the list of other allowances approved by the responsible minister and the condition of service was not amended to take into account subsequent directives, circulars and rationalisation instruments which spell out allowance paid,” Chiri said in her report.

Another local authority that was rebuked by the AG was Binga Rural District Council, whose books for 2015 were under examination by the auditors with indications that it owed the taxman $79 000 in pay as you earn obligations, among other statutory institutions.