Chitungwiza councillors and officials drove the municipality into bankruptcy through illegal land sales, as land in the dormitory town had become ‘a free for all’, the commission running the affairs of the council has said. 

An internal audit revealed that councillors and staff allocated themselves stands/land and undercharged by as much as $200 and proceeded to sell the same stands for $5 000. The bankrupt council owes various creditors, including statutory obligations of more than $62 million while the local authority is owed $49 million by residents, business and Government departments.

Speaking during a tour of Chitungwiza by Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere and other senior officials from his ministry, the commission’s chairperson Mr Madzudzo Pawadyira said most of the problems bedevilling Chitungwiza would have vanished had council received what was due to it.