COUNCIL CHAMBER NEARLY TURNED INTO BOXING RING

Paul Pindani in CHINHOYI

THE Council chambers here were nearly turned into a boxing ring as Chinhoyi Mayor, Owen Charuza, and his fellow councillors nearly fought over the choice of Acting Town Clerk.

This came a day after the former Town Clerk, Maxwell Kaitano, took an oath of office as a High Court Administrative Judge.

Engineer Simon Marara is now the Acting Town Clerk.

A source said:

“The mayor almost engaged in a fist fight with Councillor Voster Mashevedzanwa and Ignatius Zvigadza.

“The mayor came declaring that there must be an acting town clerk and he chose one of the councillors, Simon Marara.”

However, there was an objection from the other Councillors, which led to emotions exploding.

Mashevedzanwa confirmed there was chaos in the chamber.

“The mayor chaired the meeting with a position. As ruling party councillors, we had no problem with Marara being nominated as Acting Town Clerk as he is equally competent.

“We wanted to have ownership of the process.  However, the mayor acted as if he had ownership of the Town Engineer.”

Mashevedzanwa refuted allegations that the Councillors walked out of the meeting in protest.

“The DDC, Mr Zivanai, was the one who cancelled the meeting citing the use of vulgar language and the tense atmosphere.

“The mayor is the one who used foul language, calling me and Zvigadza stupid.

“We were raising our hands with the intention to contribute. We did not come with a position.”

But whatever our contribution, we are not against the people we work with every day.

Councillor, Ignatius Zvigadza, of Ward Four, said:

“We have a mayor who thinks he is an executive mayor and can make executive decisions.”

No comment could be obtained from Charuza as he was not picking up his mobile phone. 

Acting Chamber Secretary, Tsitsi Kabangure, chose to be diplomatic over the issue.

“You can get your comment from Tichaona Mlauzi. He is the Council spokesperson,” said Kabangure.

Mlauzi told H-Metro he could not comment as he did not attend the meeting.

“I was not there, I did not attend the meeting,” said Mlauzi.