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after the local authority’s General Purposes Committee on Monday withdrew a motion for the enforcement of the rotation of council committees from the agenda.
Councillors yesterday said there would be “trouble” at the full council meeting next Wednesday if the powers that be decide to shelve discussing the issue.
They said that it was not the first time that committee had removed the motion moved by Ward Six Councillor Jennifer Bent.
In her motion, Clr Bent called for the enforcement of a system to hold fresh elections for committees and their chairpersons every year in August, something that has not happened at the Bulawayo City Council since 2009.
Some members of the General Purposes Committee have reportedly told councillors pushing for the enforcement of the system of electing members of the committees every year that their party, MDC-T, was against the system.
The city has 28 councillors and 25 are from MDC-T.
The issue is threatening to open deep divisions among councillors.
Angry councillors said the members of the committees were against enforcing the system because they were enjoying the benefits especially the individuals chairing the committees. They said the move was however against the provisions of the Urban Councils Act.
The posts come with attractive perks that include all expenses paid trips anywhere in the world on council business. They also have the added attraction of travel and subsistence allowances.
The General Purposes Committee is made up of chairpersons from council’s seven standing committees.
It includes Councillors Nduna Dladla (Finance and Development), Benjamin Sigwaza Ndlovu (Business Committee), Elmon Mpofu (Audit Committee), Thembeni Khoza (Health, Housing and Education) Edward Ndlovu (Environmental Management and Engineering), Phinias Ndlovu (Town Lands and Planning), James Sithole (Municipal Procurement) and the Mayor, Thaba Moyo, who is the chairperson of the committee.
Motions that are to be discussed during a full council meeting are first vetted by the committee before the meeting.
Councillors yesterday said it was not proper for the committee to discuss the matter of re-elections because they were interested parties.
“We heard that the matter has been dropped from the agenda again. I think it is time we showed that our silence does not mean we are stupid. The council chairpersons have been lying to us saying the party was against conducting fresh elections annually for committee members and chairpersons of committees but they have never bothered to give the names of the senior party members who gave such an order.
Why are other urban councils that are also dominated by the MDC-T rotating their committees? asked one of the disgruntled councillors.
He warned that there will be fireworks at the full council meeting if attempts were made to avoid discussing the issue.
In an interview, Clr Bent confirmed that she had proposed the motion several times but it was being shot down.
“I do not know why this issue is being turned down. I believe annual elections are for the good of the council because they give councillors a chance to be members of different committees during their tenure. It makes them know how the different committees function, thereby making them able to debate more effectively on council issues and at the end of the day pass informed resolutions that benefit the city and its residents,” said Clr Bent.
She said other urban councils, including the Harare City Council were conducting elections every year and she could not understand why the situation was different in Bulawayo.
Clr Lot Siziba of Ward 13, said members of the committee had repeatedly told them that the party leadership was against annual elections for chairpersons’ posts.
“We are tired of their excuses. If the party is against the system of electing new committees every year that should be communicated formally to all of us,” he said.
Alderman Charles Mpofu, who was a councillor in the city for 17 years, said the councillors were right to demand re-election of committees every year.
“A political party cannot give an instruction that is against the dictates of the Urban Councils Act. During the 17 years that I was in council, we knew that every August, council committees were reshuffled and wherever necessary, new people were voted into committees. It improved the quality of councillors,” said Ald Mpofu.
Clr Moyo could not be reached for comment.
All the committee chairpersons who were contacted declined to speak on the matter.
They asked this reporter to talk to the council’s senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu.
She in turn referred questions to the chamber secretary Mrs Sikhangele Zhou.
Mrs Zhou declined to neither confirm nor deny whether the motion had been removed from the agenda.
“I can only speak about the Act. Section 96 (8) as read with a subsection of Section 103, which called for fresh elections every August, was repealed by Amendment 21 of the Act in 1997. It left a vacuum that does not call for automatic elections every August,” said Mrs Zhou.
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