High Court judge, Justice Joseph Mafusire, yesterday (Tuesday) confirmed Jacob Mafume as the substantive Mayor of Harare, throwing away his systematic suspension by Local Government Minister July Moyo.
Moyo suspended Mafume four times on the basis that he was facing criminal abuse of office charges. The fifth one was a bogus letter purporting to be from his party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party notifying July Moyo’s office of his dismissal.
Mafume decided to approach the courts claiming his suspension was a nullity and won the case.
Justice Mafusire ruled: “The decision of the Local Government Minister to suspend Mafume through a letter dated December 17, 2021 is a nullity and is hereby set aside.
“The Minister shall not suspend Mafume on the same or similar allegations as the ones in his letters of suspension dated December 23, 2020, 22, January, September 2021 and December 2021.”
It emerged, however, few months ago that Moyo has been systematically suspending Mafume to pave way for the controversial Pomona dumpsite deal with a Netherlands blacklisted company Geogenix B.V fronted by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s son and family friend Delish Nguwaya.
The shadowy company is expected to turn the waste at Pomona dumpsite into energy.
In July last year, Moyo suspended Mafume and pushed for councillor Stewart Mutizwa to be acting Mayor, reportedly with the aim of persuading councillors to give out for free the Pomona Dumpsites to Geogenix B.V.
The deal has caused public outcry due to its outrageous terms and conditions which, for instance, require the city to pay at least US$22 000 per day even without dumping waste.
Mafume along with other Citizens Coalition for Change councillors will hold an urgent meeting on Thursday to cancel the deal.
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