Councillor wants mayor to recuse himself

presiding over his case saying he is an interested party.
He also wants Mr Masunda to be relieved of his duties on allegations of abusing the mayor’s chair.
Clr Nyachowe accuses Mr Masunda of behaviour that “triggers unnecessary debate some of which turns to be nasty and derogatory” with capacity to “result in violence”.
He has been forced to sit out two full council meetings after he refused to retract the word “warn” in his address to Mr Masunda.
He now faces a ban from his colleagues from attending council meetings if he fails to retract the word.
But Clr Nyachowe feels otherwise and has written to Chamber Secretary Mrs Josephine Ncube seeking “guidance in the matter that you are aware of that involves myself and the Mayor of the City of Harare Mr Muchadeyi Masunda”.
“I seek your advice as to really when this bashing is going to stop? From my end, I do not see where and what I did wrong to warrant me to confess. I also want to suggest that the word ‘warn’ that is being referred (sic), as a threat must not be viewed out of context.
“If the mayor is developmental, he will appreciate that I was ‘advising’ him if I am to use another word,” he said.
Clr Nyachowe implored Mrs Ncube to advise him whether what Mr Masunda was doing was legally right.
“I am sure the mayor is abusing his office and chair and should be directed accordingly or removed from office for that,” he said.
Clr Nyachowe suggested that Mr Masunda should recuse himself and allow another councillor to preside over the matter. He said he would not apologise and his conscience was clear he had not done anything wrong.
At the last special council meeting, Clr Paula Macharangwanda raised the issue saying the meeting could not go ahead before Clr Nyachowe apologised for using the word “warn”.
Two weeks ago Clr Nyachowe warned Mr Masunda against abusing council chambers to promote personal and MDC-T interests.
In his opening sentence he said he wanted to “warn” the mayor against abusing the council chambers to promote personal interests.
Mr Masunda had spent close to an hour giving notices, reading letters and making announcements of his impending trips abroad.
He had also mentioned that he had received a delegation from the MDC-T at Town House and implored council to work closely with the party’s new Harare executive.
He then described the MDC-T as the biggest political party in Zimbabwe.
Clr Nyachowe then challenged Mr Masunda, accusing him of championing personal and MDC-T political agendas during full council meetings.
The incident has attracted divergent views from elected and appointed councillors with the elected councillors adamant that Clr Nyachowe should apologise while the appointed councillors said that he should be allowed to express his views without hindrance.