BY SAMUEL NJINGA IN MASVINGO
A Serima Village head in Masvingo, Shonhai Takawira, affectionately known as Chibherere was this week caught offside after having been involved in a Presidential inputs scandal. Chibherere, who had decided to take the law into his own hands and advanced to swindle a villager, Obert Chitawi out of his 50kg bag of wheat emanating from the Presidential inputs made a dramatic V turn this week when AB Communications News Network`s Hevoi FM Radio Station in Masvingo interrogated him.
Chibherere who is said to be a corruption addict, failed to account on the criteria that he used in retrieving from Chitawi the Presidential input of a bag of wheat that he had initially allocated to him. Last week Hevoi FM News was inundated by calls from Serima villagers who were complaining with regards to the perpetual escalation of corruption levels in the area. Headman Maotsa, whose name is Lawrence Zvenhamo, confirmed this development.
“I am not happy with the way traditional leaders in this area are becoming habitually corrupt. I tried my level best to reprimand most of them but things are continuously falling apart. They keep on committing the same crimes. In this case, I warned Chibherere sometime ago that he was abusing authority by denying Chitawi his 50kg bag of wheat. I even told him to give back the 50kg bag of wheat to Chitawi but he remained adamant,” said Maotsa.
Chibherere who was threatening to evict Chitawi if he ever dared to keep on pursuing his demand for the wheat, only gave back the wheat to Chitawi when Hevoi FM News grilled him over the issue.
“I am sorry for what I did. He can come and collect his 50kg bag of wheat,” said Chibherere.
Meanwhile ZANU PF leadership in Masvingo has sounded a warning to all those who keep on finding pleasure in corruption. ZANU PF Provincial Chairman, Robson Mavhenyengwa, said that Presidential inputs are meant to benefit everybody regardless of party affiliation and as such nobody should be left behind. “Presidential inputs are meant for everyone regardless of party affiliation. The President`s policy is so clear. Nobody should be left behind. As a party, we call upon the traditional leaders to go ahead and do investigations that will lead to the subsequent arrest of any unscrupulous corrupt elements as far as allocation of Presidential inputs is concerned,” said Mavhenyengwa.
General survey made by Hevoi FM News has revealed that a number of village heads in the area are parceling out land to several people at an exorbitant price with some of the traditional leaders demanding US$600, 2 beasts or anything equivalent to that charge. A reliable source confirmed that Kubweya, Nhamoinesu, Chibherere and other village heads around Serima were illegally allocating land to the majority of the people in the area. This publication is also reliably informed that most of the construction activities by the new inhabitants are done during the night so as to counter demolitions.