Suspicious break-in at council offices

By The NewsDay | Oct. 21, 2019 | 2 Min read

Mutare City Council’s finance director Blessing Kapuya’s office was on Thursday last week allegedly broken into and there are fears that important council documents might have been stolen, NewsDay can reveal.

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

Council spokesperson Spren Mutiwi yesterday confirmed the alleged break-in, saying police were now investigating the matter.

“Yes, there was a break-in at the finance director’s office, but at the moment, we don’t have finer details. We need to find out what was stolen or not stolen because the finance director was not around on Friday, so he is the one who is going to see what was stolen, so the best day to get full details is on Monday (today),” he said. “The Criminal Investigation Department CID) department visited the scene on Friday to carry out their investigations.”

But council sources said the so-called break-in could be an inside job to conceal abuse of council resources.

“This is a white collar crime by management and the theft of crucial documents was pre-planned to coincide with the absence from duty of the finance director,” a source who refused to be named said.

“Cases of management making double fuel claims are so rampant and this purported break-in is a way of destroying incriminating evidence.

“Recently, all councillors and town clerk Joshua Maligwa received allowances to attend the late former President Robert Mugabe’s funeral in Harare, but there are reports that some councillors did not travel even after receiving fuel and money for the trip.”