Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda says technocrats and people without interest in politics should administer operations of local authorities because of their impartiality and technical expertise.
Masunda, who claims to be a “non-political actor whose ascendancy at Town House was purely on merit”, told NewsDay in the capital at the weekend he has since advised Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to enforce that in order to “clean the mess” caused by the elected council leaders.
“The PM in Italy is a technocrat. Politicians should eat humble pie, let us take the charge and clean the mess and we give them back after five or 10 years,” Masunda said.
“I think PM Tsvangirai is a realistic politician and he knows that and that’s why I am here because he understands that. I said I will assist him to find people to run the cities and do what I am doing with Harare to Chitungwiza, Bulawayo and other cities.”
He made the remarks after dismissing demands by the Chitungwiza resuscitation team to take over the management of Prince Edward Water Treatment Plant.
“The question of when the Chitungwiza City Council will be able to paddle its own canoe will depend largely on how quickly the democratically-elected councillors will accept that none of them is really up to the onerous task of being mayor.
They should, with all due respect to Alderman Philemon Chipiyo (Chitungwiza mayor) and his team, be taking a leaf out of City of Harare’s book by looking to civic society for someone with the capacity and gravitas to spearhead the agenda for the sustainable development of Chitungwiza,” Masunda said.
A prominent businessman and lawyer, Masunda was elected unanimously by the MDC-T-dominated Harare council in July 2008 for a five-year term.
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Masunda is the first non-MDC-T member to take office as mayor, and elected not to be associated with any political party.
