MARTIN MAWAYA
GWERU- Suspended Gweru Acting Town Clerk Vakai Chikwekwe has officially resigned from Gweru City Council.
In a letter written to the Mayor of Gweru City Hamutendi Kombayi, Chikwekwe said he resigned from the post of being the substantive Chamber Secretary and Acting Town Clerk of City of Gweru with immediate effect.
He said his resignation was necessitated by continuous persecution, victimization, duress and undue influence exerted on him by the Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) councilors.
“I hereby notify you that I am resigning with immediate effect from the employment of City of Gweru as a substantive Chamber Secretary. It follows that I am stepping down from the position of Acting Town Clerk for the City of Gweru.
“This is because I cannot bear the toxic environment at the City of Gweru anymore, the hate against management and in particular myself for standing my ground against unethical conduct by a band of councilors who have been usurping executive powers and failing to appreciate and apply the cardinal rules of the doctrine of separation of powers between councilors and management,” said Chikwekwe in a long emotional resignation letter.
He added that he suffered humiliation as he was told to stop reporting for duty through a text message.
Chikwekwe was suspended following his arrest by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZAAC) for allegedly violating tender procedures, as a result Sheasham, Casas and Wackdrive won the tenders to service Mkoba 21 and Randolph Phase 1 suburb stands unprocedurally.
He was remanded out of custody on ZW$100 000 bail.
The former Acting Town Clerk was served with a suspension letter soon after his arrest for a slew of charges that include failure to coordinate, monitor and supervise all departments thereby resulting in employees working in silos and consequently affecting service delivery.
Council also stated that there was negligence of duty on his part which resulted in the local authority being prejudiced financially.
Chikwekwe was further charged for flouting or violating Public Procurement and Debt Management Act, and continuous exhibition of inconsistency in the discharge of his duties.
Recently, the local authority reported Chikwekwe to the police for stealing and running away with a brand new Nissan Navara service vehicle.
Chikwekwe was appointed the Chamber Secretary for Gweru in November 2016, before that he worked as Gweru Regional Magistrate and Magistrate in charge of Matebeleland South before he was transferred to Harare as a Provincial Magistrate.
