By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |
The opposition MDC-T has withdrawn its support for Chris Mbanga as Harare municipality deputy mayor, according to Obert Gutu, the party spokesperson.
This is in spite of the fact that Mbanga, who has been the acting mayor, is scheduled for a disciplinary hearing for allegedly refusing the party line on senior appointments at the local authority.
Speaking at a press conference at Harvest on Thursday, Gutu said: “We no longer recognise him as the deputy mayor. According to our procedure, though, he still has to appear for a disciplinary hearing at a date to be announced soon.”
This means that the disciplinary hearing will be a mere formality since MDC-T has already made a decision to get rid of Mbanga.
MDC-T insists Mbanga rebelled against the party position by failing to back suspended town clerk, James Mushore and the substantive mayor, Bernard Manyenyeni.
Minister of Local Government, Saviour Kasukuwere, blocked Mushore’s appointment to replace Tendai Mahachi, arguing that it was not cleared by the relevant board as stipulated by the Urban Councils Act.
Mushore’s case is now before the courts after he lodged an application challenging his suspension.
Manyenyeni is also on suspension for backing Mushore and allegedly failing to deal with corruption in business units that fall under the municipality.
The mayor has, however, said Kasukuwere’s ministry is grandstanding as he had been updating it on progress being made to probe the corruption that was unearthed by the Auditor General.
MDC-T local government shadow minister, Eddie Cross, told journalists at the media briefing that Mbanga was throwing spanners in his party’s works and deserved to be offloaded.
“There is only one individual who has gone wrong in this whole mess at the municipality. This man (Mbanga) has committed gross violations of the party position and he is now facing the consequences,” said Cross.
Mbanga, who is a former chief of staff at MDC, could not be reached for a comment.
Cross insisted that Mushore was appointed on a non-partisan basis and had no ties with the MDC-T.
“In fact, someone told us that Mushore belonged to Zimbabwe People First. He is not our member and all we wanted was to ensure that we got a professional person for the job (of town clerk),” said Cross.
“I asked Mushore why he wanted the job and I am humbled by his response. He said that, for the remainder of his working life, he wanted to contribute to the life of the people of Harare. And this is the man the Zanu PF government wants out,” he added.
Manyenyeni revealed that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) was probing Mushore for unknown dealings, but dismissed that as a government plot to derail the former banker’s appointment.
Cross further claimed that Kasukuwere had boasted to Manyenyeni that he would make the mayor’s life extremely difficult till the general elections in 2018.
“He told the mayor (Manyenyeni) that he would continue suspending him until the elections. The minister said he would give him 45-day consecutive suspensions till his tenure expired. You tell me, what we do with a man who does such bad things?” said Cross.
Kasukuwere’s phone was out of reach and could not be contacted for his side of developments at Town House. Nehanda Radio
