Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda has challenged Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo to ensure personnel he seconded to Town House were highly skilled and up to scratch to avoid embarrassment.
Masunda’s statement comes after Charles Nyachowe, Chombo’s Zanu PF appointee, recently left the council in a huff after his bid to have Masunda axed flopped.
Masunda last week said he was relieved by the “honourable thing” Nyachowe had done by “throwing in the towel”.
“I note with relief that Nyachowe has, after almost three years and eight months since his appointment as a special interest councillor, done the honourable thing and thrown in the towel,” Masunda said.
“If the truth be told, he should have been gentleman enough to decline the invitation which minister Chombo must have extended to him to become a special interest councillor in July 2008 in the bona fide belief that there was no legal impediment which would render Nyachowe ineligible to serve in that role. Nyachowe either knew deep down in his heart or ought to have known that he was disqualified from serving as councillor,” he said.
Masunda said Nyachowe was an ex-convict therefore knew he would not fit to stand for public office.
“His disqualification stems from the fact that a couple of years ago, he was convicted of a criminal offence involving dishonesty for which he received a custodial sentence in excess of six months without the option of a fine. He should have spared Chombo any blushes by declining the appointment. He chose not to do so presumably because gentlemen constitute a rare and endangered species these days,” Masunda said.
Chombo, known for sneaking in Zanu PF activists into councils as special interest councillors, yesterday said he was attending a “big rally” in Mutorashanga” and could not comment.
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But last week, Nyachowe said he had left council to pursue “other interests”. He was not available for comment on Masunda’s statement yesterday.
He had previously moved a motion calling on Masunda to leave office alleging the mayor had failed to resolve the city’s water crisis. But the motion flopped after it went unsupported.
