Bindura residents have threatened to stop paying rates in protest against Mashonaland Central governor Martin Dinha and Local Government, Rural and Urban Development minister Ignatius Chombo’s alleged interference in council business.
The residents, who said they were against the suspension of Mayor Tinashe Madamombe, told NewsDay on Wednesday that they would not pay any rates until Madamombe was reinstated.
The residents said the suspension of Madamombe was tantamount to sabotage as the mayor had done a lot for the town, including fighting corruption, improving service delivery and paying salaries for workers.
Bindura Residents’ Association chairperson, Olleys Mazorodze, said: “Residents have literally come under siege from Chombo and Dinha.”
“They have been criminalising everything that benefits residents and that includes making false allegations that led to my arrest as chairman of the residents’ association and my secretary,” he said. “They (Chombo and Dinha) behave like statutory clowns by abusing statutory instruments,” Mazorodze said.
He added that Chombo ordered the sale of a council house to Dinha for 48 cents in 2009.
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Though no official communication could be immediately obtained from Bindura Council, residents said in a petition they were tired of interference and disruptions of progress by the two politicians.
Chombo recently told our sister paper, The Standard that the 48 cents house was part of Dinha’s benefits as his term as mayor had been cut short by the 2008 harmonised elections.