SUSPENDED Karoi Town Council secretary Wellington Mutikani has been charged with fraud and abuse of office. He will appear at a disciplinary hearing on Monday.
NHAU MANGIRAZI
A full special full council meeting on Thursday heard that the senior official will face two charges after he admitted that he advanced himself an unauthorised loan to buy materials for the diversion of a Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) pipe at his privately owned Champion Lodge last year in October. Acting town secretary Hastings Makunda read the charges to eight councillors as chairperson Abel Matsika was absent.
A source revealed that a request by Mutikani to have the hearing heard in-camera was turned down. “As council, we rejected Mutikani’s request to have the hearing held in-camera as it is about public funds.
He will have his own legal rights, but can’t dictate to council that way,” said the source. The under-fire Mutikani is at the centre of an ongoing scandal involving the irregular construction of his private lodge above the Zinwa main water pipe. He is also accused of approving an “unsanctioned loan” to purchase pipe-diversion materials.
