Residents of ward 29 in Magwegwe West, Bulawayo, yesterday demonstrated against their local councillor, Monica Lubimbi, accusing her of abuse of office.
BY NIZBERT MOYO/SHARON SIBINDI
The residents, who gathered at Totobisa off sales, claimed Lubimbi was practising nepotism when hiring casuals for litter picking and storm drain clearing programmes.
Demonstrators said they had noted with grave concern that Lubimbi was employing only “her people” from Magwegwe North suburb to do pothole patching while shunning those from Magwegwe West.
“The Labour Act prohibits importation of unskilled labour and we are saying those people working in our area must stop with immediate effect and be replaced by people residing in Magwegwe West,” one of the demonstrating youths said.
“How does she know that this person is less-privileged or elderly yet she resides in Magwegwe North?”
Another demonstrator, Givemore Ndlovu, said: “We, as youths, feel this should be done with refuse collection ‘omabhimu’ and those sweeping our streets. This demonstration will not stop unless the misuse of power by the councillor is stopped.”
Contacted for comment, Lubimbi denied the allegations, saying it was not possible to satisfy everyone at once.
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“I have heard about the demonstrations and I am going there to hear their grievances. The problem is that there are so many political parties in this ward. Some want to gain political mileage using me,” she said.
“My ward covers Magwegwe North, West, Lobengula West and part of Ntemba Drive. I hire three people per place. It’s only that one cannot satisfy all the people since the council wants us to hire a total of 10 people in different sessions.”
