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Esinathy Sibanda Bulawayo Bureau
TSHOLOTSHO Rural District Council (RDC) is setting up a Commission of Inquiry into possible embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars, including $360 000 that was meant for the construction of Tsholotsho Stadium.

Yesterday, speculation was rife that council chief executive officer Mr Themba Moyo would be suspended over the improprieties.

The $360 000 was raised through the sale of 60 elephants, each going for $18 000, which were in 2013 donated by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate Change, then under Mr Saviour Kasukuwere.

Only 20 elephants were sold and the money is allegedly missing from council coffers.

Among the litany of charges, an unspecified amount believed to be running into hundreds of thousands of dollars was allegedly transferred to the RDC from the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) and has also gone missing.

It is also alleged that there was rampant corruption regarding allocation of major tenders by the local authority.

The RDC failed to account for the money during an audit done through the Ministry of Ministry of Housing and Local Government and other functionaries of the State in March this year.

The Council Chairperson Mr Esaul Siwela said the Ministry recommended that they set up a Commission of Inquiry which would investigate the irregularities unearthed by the audit.

All the recommendations outlined during the audit report presentations are expected to have been accomplished by the end of this year.

“I can confirm that an audit was done in March and its forensic findings were presented to us. One of its key findings is the ‘missing’ $360 000 which was meant for constructing the stadium. The money was raised through selling elephants and 20 were gunned down and the money was handed over to the Rural District Council headed by Mr Themba Moyo,” Mr Siwela said.