How not to be a mayor

By Andrew Kunambura

At the helm of Harare is acting mayor, Chris Mbanga.

The city, Zimbabwe’s capital, is a metropolitan that seems to be sinking, each day, under the weight of garbage piling up in the central business district and suburbs.

The unbearable stench from the refuse heaps bears testimony to a tragedy of unmanageable proportions, and one which indicts, not only the city council, but also the ineffective and meddling central government.

It took the death of then deputy mayor, Thomas Muzuva, who succumbed to colon cancer last year, for Mbanga to start his rise to the helm of Town House.

He was elected deputy mayor late last year following Muzuwa’s passing on, before being thrust onto the position of acting mayor last month by Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere following the suspension of mayor, Bernard Manyenyeni.

And, if truth be told, nothing good has happened at Town House ever since Manyenyeni left; and this is not to mean that the suspended mayor was doing a sterling job — far from it.

The past month or so of Mbanga’s leadership have reduced the establishment called council into an empty casing. Life has long departed; and along with it, serving delivery.

There has been so much litter on the streets of Harare ever since Mbanga’s appointment, while the city has been running out of water every weekend, with some suburbs going for weeks without water.

Staff morale is at an all-time low, more so given that the Town Clerk James Mushore, the city’s principal boss, is, at present, heavily constrained and cannot perform his duties.

The situation is being made worse by a strained working relationship between Mbanga and Mushore, whom he unsuccessfully tried to get rid of on three occasions, apparently just to appease Kasukuwere, with whom it is understood he has a very good friendship.

Mbanga’s relationship with his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) on whose ticket he landed the council seat, is also strained.

The party’s Harare province last week recalled him from council as announced by the chairman thereof, Eric Murai, accusing him of insubordination and defiance.

Still, he holds on to his job without any qualms, knowing for sure he has the blessings of Kasukuwere. Mbanga is accused by the MDC-T of not adhering to the party’s directive to leave Mushore alone.

He has had that difficult task of having to skilfully navigate the complex terrain of trying to avoid Kasukuwere’s axe and at the same time satisfy party demands. Talk of a man trapped between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

But lacking that necessary skill, he blundered in handling the matter, feloniously (as in the eyes of the MDC-T) siding with Kasukuwere.

His resistance to the recall, say his party colleagues, smack of a man who knows where his legitimacy is anchored: The Minister.

And already, conspiracy theories are being peddled around.

His curriculum vitae shows that he was once a Member of Parliament shortly before the country’s independence in 1980, representing the late Abel Muzorewa’s United African People’s Council when this country became Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, albeit shortly.

Suddenly the MDC-T’s top brass have discovered that he is not the most loyal member of the party. Lacking the support of the party, in general, and support of councillors, Mbanga is a sitting duck under the circumstances.

For a man whose public relations skills also leave a lot to be desired, as evidenced by his lack of appreciation of the press, Mbanga may as well be meat for the vultures.

Despite his shortcomings and precarious situation, Mbanga has starkly refused to come out of his shell and open up to the media, leaving the City of Harare’s acting communications manager, Michael Chideme, to deal with members of the Fourth Estate even in situation where matters might require his exclusive attention.

Mbanga is simply always unavailable to all stakeholders, except, of course the Minister.
His preferred responses to the press is always either that he cannot comment or just dead silence.

Only last week, scores of vendors stormed Town House demanding an audience with him. Instead of meeting them, he sneaked out of his office through the back door and “nicodemously” drove away.

This is the man in whose hands government has entrusted the lives and livelihoods of the city’s over three million residents.

Here is a perfect example of how not to be a mayor.

It is therefore not surprising that almost the entire council is still solidly behind Manyenyeni. Financial Gazette