Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The government allegedly spent over US$200 000 on Finance minister Mthuli Ncube’s accommodation after his two-year stay at Miekles Hotel where an executive room costs US$200 per night.
This expenditure of taxpayers’ money comes when Zimbabwe’s economy is still recovering following decades of poor performance.
Ironically, Ncube has since his appointment in 2018, been introducing austerity measures that were meant to cut public expenditure, and promote saving and economic resuscitation.
A senior civil servant Thursday dismissed suggestions that Ncube lived at the Meikles hotel for over two years. The source said:
The honourable minister stayed at the hotel for just three months whilst his house was still being occupied by tenants. As soon as the tenant’s lease was duly terminated, he moved into his personal home.
However, a source in the tourism sector told the Independent that “Ncube stayed at Meikles for a very long time”.
It will not be the first time though after former Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko also lodged at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in the capital for many years and the government paid the US$619 000 bill.
Mphoko’s reason for staying at the 5-star hotel was that the house that he was allocated by the government did not match his high office.
He finally moved into a US$2 million mansion built by the government.
More: The Independent
