LOCAL Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday flexed his political muscle and suspended Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni following their fallout over the recent appointment of former banker James Mushore as the city’s town clerk.
by XOLISANI NCUBE
Manyenyeni confirmed the development, but declined to give further details.
“Just to let you know that I have received a letter from the minister that I am suspended both as councillor and mayor with immediate effect,” Manyenyeni said.
Part of the letter read: “The grounds for your suspension are that you have, without legal basis, made an employment offer to a person for the position of town clerk without the necessary approval of the Local Government Board as required by the Urban Councils Act as read with section 265 (1) (b) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. You went further and defied a lawfully given instruction by implementing a resolution that had been rescinded in terms of the Urban Councils Act section 314.” Kasukuwere could not be reached for comment yesterday.
On Monday, the minister threatened to dissolve the entire MDC-T-dominated Harare City Council for refusing to rescind Mushore’s appointment.
Manyenyeni’s suspension comes as the main opposition MDC-T was last night preparing to file an urgent chamber application to interdict Kasukuwere from dissolving the council over the same matter.
The Combined Harare Residents’ Association has also filed for an interdict order to stop Kasukuwere from interfering in the appointment of the city mayor.
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MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday told a Press briefing in the capital that his party, which has the largest number of councillors in the local authority, would file an urgent chamber application to stop the minister from dismissing the council or suspending any of the councillors.
“The law is very clear, the minister cannot interfere in the affairs of the local authority. As MDC, we will not allow a minister to abuse the Constitution wantonly,” Tsvangirai said.
“This represents a gross abuse of his ministerial authority and a complete waste of the court’s time and taxpayers’ money. The decision of the High Court was unequivocal. The minister no longer has any authority to dismiss or suspend councillors outside the procedures laid down in the Constitution and does not have the power to appoint a ‘commission’ to run the affairs of cities,” he said.
