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MDC-T has a low opinion of its own councillors in most urban areas and has a low regard for Local Government in general.
After the 2008 harmonised elections the party found it had a majority on just about every urban council. And then it found that in Harare at least it simply did not have a suitable person among its large gang of councillors who was remotely suitable to be mayor of the capital and largest city in Zimbabwe.
It used a little-known provision in the Urban Councils Act to bring in Mr Muchadeyi Masunda, a well-respected lawyer and company director as mayor, even though he was not a councillor.
Mr Masunda made it clear, both publicly and privately, that he was disappointed in the calibre of most of the elected councillors, who he felt were simply inadequately prepared by education and occupation to do the job they had been elected to do.
At the very least he hoped that in future there would be suitable men and women nominated and elected to the council who could at least chair the committees effectively.
The MDC-T has always spoken against appointed members of Parliament and in the debate over the new Constitution this view was prevalent among many and the new Parliament is fully elected.
But hypocritically, when it comes to urban local government, where it does tend to have the votes, the party sings a different tune.
It is not only eager to appoint outsiders as mayors of the largest urban councils; it is even prepared to override the views of its own councillors to do so.
We would have thought that the party would have realised its lack of attention in 2008 and, considering that it expected to win majorities on most urban authorities, ensured that among the candidates it offered there were men and women suitable for election as committee chairmen and mayors.
After all, if nothing else, the party hopes to run the country one day and having a proven competency in running cities has been shown in other countries to be a plus when looking for national office.
This was especially critical when it came to the mayors of Harare and Bulawayo. Under the Constitution these mayors chair the two metropolitan councils, totally new bodies without any ties at all to the past.
The provincial councils in the rest of the country are at least an outgrowth of the old provincial governors and their small provincial councils.
Now we will have the odd position that while the chairmen of the provincial councils will have been elected to at least some post, and will have to be elected to the chairmanship, even if the full council is choosing between two majority-party candidates, the two metropolitan councils may be chaired by men appointed by a person who lost a presidential election, and who have no elected mandate of their own.
Yet they may chair metropolitan councils made up largely of elected MPs and senators. They will find that hard.
Being a city councillor is very much a part-time job, and even a mayor with his or her ceremonial duties and extra time needed to keep on top of the post, is able to hold down full-time employment elsewhere.
Mr Masunda, for example, was not living on what must have seemed to a person like him as trivial allowances for the hours he put in; he earned his real living elsewhere.
All parties should find quality candidates for councils, even if they think these are “safe seats”, and should designate in advance which of these candidates will be the mayor, should he and enough of his colleagues win election.
At least then people will know who they are voting for and can even split their votes between president, MP and councillor.
The lack of respect given to urban voters will cost the MDC-T in future polls.
Online Reporter