THE chaos rocking Harare City Council spilled into the Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (Ucaz) executive committee meeting in Bulawayo yesterday when acting mayor Chris Mbanga protested the presence of newly-appointed town clerk James Mushore.
BY RICHARD CHIDZA/NQOBANI NDLOVU
The stand-off between the Harare officials nearly stalled the Ucaz meeting, culminating in the whole Harare delegation being ordered out to resolve their differences. The Ucaz meeting was held on the sidelines of the ongoing 57th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).
Impeccable sources said as the meeting was about to start, Mbanga rose on a point of order and indicated that there was an “intruder”.
“The intruder he was talking about was Mushore and he wanted him ejected from the meeting. However, organisers asked the whole Harare City Council delegation to be given space to deal with their issues. They could not agree. Mbanga then asked Mushore to leave claiming he had power under the Urban Councils Act to determine the composition of the local authority’s delegation,” NewsDay heard.
“The source of the problem is Josephine Ncube (chamber secretary). Mbanga is refusing to recognise Mushore and instead wants Ncube as town clerk in line with (Local Government minister Saviour) Kasukuwere’s desires.”
In the stand-off, Mushore, sources claimed, stood his ground and demanded that Mbanga and his “coterie of hangers-on”, who included councillors Steward Mutizwa, Wellington Njanjazi and a woman identified as Gwenambura, put their request in writing. The group was then asked to leave the meeting after the furore.
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Mbanga yesterday confirmed the “walkout” in protest after Mushore attended the meeting without a council resolution.
“Council stands by its decision that the Mushore matter is still before the courts. He, therefore, cannot report for duty until determination on matters before the courts,” he said.
Ucaz acting president Tsungai Makore, who is also Shurugwi mayor, also confirmed the development.
“A constitutional provision that we have as Ucaz indicates that members to the executive committee meeting comprise of mayors and chairpersons of full members. Harare is a full member of the Ucaz.
“On issues pertaining to the delegates of members to attend the executive committee meeting, the town clerk attends in an advisory role. In this instance, the issues pertaining to Harare, as you are aware, are before the courts and it is not for Ucaz to discuss or even determine who is the town clerk, and who is not. Our issue ends as per our constitutional provision,” Makore said.
Makore also confirmed the meeting had requested “Harare to leave and sort out their issues”.
“The meeting proceeded and it was fruitful (in) manner…we hope that our next full executive committee meeting will have a full complement of our members. We expect as Ucaz, Harare would have solved their issues when we meet next time,” he said.
This furore came as MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai insisted that his party did not recognise Mbanga’s appointment as Harare acting mayor.
Mbanga took over as acting mayor following the suspension of mayor Bernard Manyenyeni on allegations of defying Kasukuwere and refusing to rescind Mushore’s appointment as town clerk.
Mbanga has reportedly also barred Mushore from setting foot at Town House until his appointment has been regularised, but the latter has defied the directive and travelled to the Ucaz conference using his own resources after council refused to fund his trip. Mushore at the beginning of this month signed a two-year-contract which expires when he reaches retirement age in 2018, and has threatened to sue council should his contract be terminated.
