By Correspondent
Recently appointed Harare Provincial Development Coordinator (PDC) Tafazwa Muguti has been caught in a suspected corruption scandal after illegally acquiring a stand in Zengeza.
A leaked letter by the Chitungwiza Director of Housing and Community Services Mr Sithole to Mr Muguti offered him stand number 30432 measuring 3800 square metres for a shocking US$340.
In local currency the amount is pegged at ZWL$34 971.50.
Council normally sells stands according to a waiting list and the alleged purchase by Muguti has raised eyebrows.
Journalist and anti-corruption activist Hopewell Chin’ono said, ‘normal procedures were not followed as required by the law”.
However Muguti has dismissed the allegations deflecting them as political attacks.
“No amount of smearing my name with false stories will intimidate me.
“I was appointed to clean up the corruption and land barons.
“Believe me no amount of death threats, following me from work or dishing sewer drawn corruption allegations against me will work”, he said.
Muguti has previously said that Harare, “is full of corruption even in political circles”.
Recently Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume was arrests on abuse of office allegations whose issue is the illegal allocation of sands similar to Muguti’s alleged case.
Mafume has already spent a week in remand prison as he is yet to be granted bail.
The appointment of Muguti has caused much consternation within the local governance corridors of power with accusations that he is a ruling party instrument to stampede the opposition-led Councils from operating independently.
Early this year government released new regulations requiring Councils to inform and invite government officials to its Full Council meetings.
The move has drawn much criticism from local governance experts with accusations that it’s engineered at corralling the Councils and reducing their powers.
The ruling party has been struggling politically to win in urban areas and has been seen to take steps aimed at fighting the opposition under the guise of fighting corruption and other administrative malpractices.
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