Local Government minister July Moyo has ordered the suspension of Zvimba Rural District Council chief executive officer, Peter Hlohla who is facing a litany of corruption charges involving land.
By Staff Reporter
Hlohla was suspended on Friday to pave way for an investigation by the ministry’s internal auditors into the various criminal charges laid against him.
The problems at the local authority are said to have stalled the development of an upmarket residential area, Sandton suburb in Mt Hampden, close to the site of the proposed new capital.
Moyo left it to the local authority to decide if the CEO would be suspended on benefits.
Christopher Shumba, the ministry’s principal director responsible for rural authorities, confirmed the suspension.
“The Ministry of Local Government has ordered the Zvimba Rural District Council to suspend Peter Hlohla pending an inquiry, which is starting next week,” he said.
“The inquiry will be headed by internal auditors within the ministry.
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“The suspension is because he is facing criminal charges at the courts and he has not been cooperating with the investigators.
“The internal probe will need to establish if the allegations are material or mere mudslinging.”
Shumba said the suspension was made to allow investigations to go on smoothly without interference.
“The issue to do with whether he is suspended on full pay was left for the local authority, which was reluctant to take action against Hlohla until minister Moyo stepped in to decide.”
Last month, Hlohla was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission over alleged illegal land deals and is currently on bail.
He was arrested, among the many charges, on allegations of prejudicing council of millions of dollars by doctoring receipts and land sizes and pocketing the difference from sales realised on council land.
Most of the charges emanated from an audit report of 2016 that exposed illicit land deals that have prejudiced the council, which was by then reeling under a $2,4 million tax debt.
According to the report, the alleged scam included awarding of contracts to companies to develop Sandton without going to tender, double allocation of stands, undervaluing of land allocated to cronies and fraudulently reducing sizes of stands.
Hlohla is accused of stalling the Sandton project after he took away tendered land from a developer called Delatfin Investments (Pvt) Ltd and allocated it to his cronies without going to tender, a dispute that had affected the development of the opulent suburb.
He was also linked to a shelf company, Spincraft, which was allegedly created and allocated land at Rainham Farm measuring 2,6 hectares.
