Harare (New Ziana)- Harare mayor, Jacob Mafume on Tuesday suspended town clerk Hosiah Chisango on a litany of allegations, including awarding a tender to a blacklisted company and extending his term of office indefinitely without council approval.
Mafume said Chisango was suspended with pay and other benefits but will not be allowed to report for duty, enter or purport to act on behalf of the City of Harare during suspension. The town clerk was recently granted bail by the High Court after spending nearly two months in remand prison over tender fraud.
In the suspension letter written on September 30th, Mafume said Chisango misconducted himself as the council’s accounting officer in several ways.
“This letter serves to inform you that on the grounds stated below you are hereby suspended from all your duties as the Town Clerk with effect from the 30th of September 2024 in terms of Section 6 (1) of Statutory Instrument 15 of 2006 as read with Section 139(3)(a) of the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15).
“Grounds for suspension (a) The employer has a good cause to believe that you have committed a serious misconduct in that you contravened Section 4(a) of the National Code i.e. S.I. 15 of 2006 otherwise known as ‘Any act or conduct or omission inconsistent with the fulfillment of the express or implied conditions of his or her contract”.
“You did so in one or more of the following ways; you misconducted yourself in the procurement and award of a tender for street lights to Jukula Enterprises in that you awarded the contract to a blacklisted company which had a record of breaching its tender obligations.
Or that you awarded a tender to a company owned by proprietors of blacklisted companies thereby exposing Council to potential financial losses and which company in this case had not won the tender. In doing so, you have failed one of your primary functions as the accounting officer which is to protect council’s interest” wrote Mafume.
He said Chisango had also failed to secure effective Enterprise Resource Planning Software and System support for the management of the Council’s billing and accounting systems for about five years. Mafume also accused the town clerk of renewing other senior employees’ contracts without authorization.
“You effected changes to the council organogram and structure by appointing senior council officers to Grades 1, 2 and 3 without Council Authority and without the approval of the Local Governance Board in terms of Section 134(1) of the Urban Council’s Act.
“In particular you appointed a senior council official to Grade 1B without the requisite approvals. You also appointed more senior officials from Grade 4 to Grade 3 without the necessary approvals. In doing so you abused your authority, and also undermined the authority of Council and the Local Government Board.
“At the expiry of your fixed term contract around July 2023, you proceeded to give yourself a contract without limit of time without the knowledge and authority of council and without the approval of the Local Government Board in terms of Section 132(1) of the Urban Councils Act. In violation of the circular issued on the 26th of June 2014 paragraph 2.2 by the Ministry of Local Government and approved by Cabinet,” said Mafume.
Chisango’s contract at the helm of HCC expired in 2023 after serving his initial four years. According to the Local Government and Public Works Ministry circular number 86 of 2018, heads of local authorities are supposed to serve for four years.
New Ziana
