SECTION 274 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides for the establishment of local authorities.
by Obert Gutu
Urban local authorities were established to represent and manage the affairs of people in urban areas throughout Zimbabwe. Councillors are directly elected by registered voters in their respective wards.
They are not appointed by the President nor by the Minister of Local Government. As such, mayors and councillors are first and foremost, answerable to the people who vote them into office and not to the Local Government minister.
Thus, the irresponsible and reckless threat by Saviour Kasukuwere, the new Minister of Local Government, to dismiss the Mayor of Harare and his councillors from office is not only unconstitutional, but also wholly misplaced and thoroughly misguided.
The long and short of it is that Kasukuwere has got absolutely no lawful authority to dismiss any mayor and councillor simply because they have refused to obey Zanu PF’s unlawful orders to forcibly remove vendors from the streets.
Indeed, Section 278 of the Constitution clearly sets out the procedure that has to be followed before any mayor or councillor is removed from office. Put simply, an independent tribunal must be established to exercise the function of removing from office mayors, chairpersons and councillors, but such removal must only be on the grounds of:
Inability to perform the functions of their office due to mental or physical incapacity;
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Gross incompetence;
Gross misconduct;
Conviction of an offence involving dishonesty, corruption or abuse of office; or
Wilful violation of the law.
The scourge of vending is a direct creation of the Zanu PF regime. Because of its ruinous, corrupt and irresponsible system of governance, this regime has run down the Zimbabwean economy over the years and in the process, thousands of workers have been thrown onto the streets as factories and industries continue to close on a daily basis.
The formal business sector has been decimated as a direct result of President Robert Mugabe and the Zanu PF regime’s disrespect for the rule of law as well as disrespect for property rights. These unemployed people have since resorted to vending in order to eke out a living for themselves and their families. The chaos that has been created by massive and indiscriminate vending should be blamed squarely on the Zanu PF regime.
The MDC calls upon the Zanu PF regime to immediately desist from adopting heavy-handed and unlawful methods of dealing with the vending crisis in Harare as well as in all the other cities, towns and growth points in the country.
We shall not accept a situation whereby the Zanu PF regime unleashes its security operatives to ruthlessly clamp down on vendors, beating them up , arresting them and also destroying their merchandise.
The MDC reiterates that the Zimbabwean economy will never recover in the absence of political legitimacy. Mugabe is an illegitimate President after he stole the July 31, 2013 harmonised elections. We shall never, ever recognise him as the lawful and legitimate leader of Zimbabwe. Mugabe is an illegitimate President leading an illegitimate government.
That is the bottom line. In the same vein, the MDC calls upon all the vendors in the country to resist the unlawful actions of Mugabe’s illegitimate regime in forcibly and violently driving them off the streets. This regime promised to create 2,2 million jobs and thus, they should be held accountable.
They should simply proceed to provide the jobs that they promised to the suffering and downtrodden masses of Zimbabwe. The Zanu PF regime shouldn’t be allowed to continue to take people for granted by selling them a dummy. Vendors should remain on the streets until such a time that the renegade Zanu PF regime has provided them with jobs.
Obert Gutu is the MDC-T spokesperson
