Murewa RDC CEO Suspended Over iPhone
Murewa Rural District Council (RDC) Chief Executive Officer Alois Gurajena was last week suspended over abuse of office allegations.
He is being accused of gross abuse of office and corruption.
This includes a case in which he ordered council to deposit money into his wife’s account to buy his cellphone.
Gurajena, who is currently before the courts, is also being accused of being a holder of a fake doctorate.
Again, it was reportedly obtained from a bogus learning institution.
In light of these cases, residents then petitioned government to consider suspending Gurajena.
This, they said, would allow for investigations.
However, Local Government Minister July Moyo ordered councillors to convene a full council meeting and deliberate on the suspension of Gurajena.
“A Full Council meeting was held and it was resolved that Gurajena be suspended.
“The call was made by ratepayers and we had to act,” a Councilor told Open Council.
The Case
The RDC flighted a tender bid for procurement of a cellphone for Gurajena and other senior council officers.
A Harare based company, Kemek Technologies, clinched the tender of supplying the cellphone for Gurajena.
It was an iPhone 12 Promax worth US$1 750.
Gurajena then directed the local authority to pay the US$1 750 into his wife’s personal account.
However, the matter was unearthed after ZACC pounced on the local authority’s audit books and picked the anomaly among many others.
