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Midlands Bureau
Gweru Mayor, Councillor Hamutendi Kombayi, is fighting a potential coup to unseat him following a fallout with a set of councillors that helped him win the mayorship in a controversial election last year. As part of the strategy to unseat him, a source said, councillors were deliberately running parallel programmes designed to sabotage service delivery and eventually pass a vote of no confidence in him.
Clr Kombayi confirmed the infighting on the sidelines of the May Day celebrations at Mkoba Stadium yesterday.
He said: “Whenever I am not around, the deputy mayor, Alderman Artwell Matyorauta, will be acting. Before I leave, we discuss issues that we need done and how we want them done. However, when I return from my trips, I always discover that there was some shift from our agreed programmes. I heard from different people that some councillors are working towards ousting me from office but that does not worry me. I was told they were working with my deputy. I am a politician and I know what to expect when dealing with people.”
A source said the councillors intended to team up against Clr Kombayi whenever he pushes for any motion at council meetings that could give him credit.
The source said the deputy mayor was working with the MDC preferred candidate for the mayoral elections held last year, Clr Charles Chikozho. Clr Kombayi beat Clr Chikozho in the election.
“How can they suspend service delivery just to fix me? I am only a ceremonial mayor and I don’t have powers to make decisions by myself. I don’t see how the councillors can sabotage service delivery and then manage to resume working for the people after getting rid of me. It is not feasible. I am not losing sleep over it because I have a duty to serve the people of Gweru. If I push a motion to have a new housing project in Mkoba and one of the councillors opposes it, it shall be recorded in the minutes. People will get to know the individuals working against the development of their area. I have a number of developmental projects that I am pushing at the moment. I had to spend a week at Gwenoro Dam trying to fix the Mkoba 19 water problem and I am glad to say the area now has water for the first time in over a decade,” he said.
Clr Kombayi said he was focused on improving service delivery and was not worried by people who are plotting his downfall.
He said he had a legacy to protect as he was inspired by his late father, Patrick, to serve the people of Gweru. His father was once mayor for Gweru.
The mayor said Gweru city was failing to handle its water tenders because it did not have a city engineer, following the retirement of Engineer Jones Nanthambwe.
He said: “Politics were at play. We are failing to attend to some of our water problems because we don’t have an engineer. Some councillors refused to have Eng Nanthambwe’s contract extended by a year or two. It was only me and the two Zanu-PF councillors who wanted the engineer’s contract extended. We need Eng Nanthambwe because he understands our water systems. We can only retire him after we get an engineer to understudy him for some time.”
At the Workers’ Day commemorations, Clr Kombayi and three other councillors could be seen arguing and pointing accusing fingers at each other. The councillors hardly followed proceedings as they decided to tackle their differences in public.
Ald Matyorauta dismissed the allegations of working to unseat the mayor as unfounded.
He said: “I am an alderman and I am 70 years old. I am the most senior in the council. How can I work against the mayor? I respect Mayor Kombayi and when he leaves me in office, I do what he instructs me to do. I can’t be involved in such fights at my age. What I only do is counsel councillors whenever they err. Obviously they didn’t bring their fights to my attention because they know I cannot tolerate such things. For now, I wouldn’t comment much until such a time when either the mayor or any of the said councillors bring the matter to my attention.”
Online Reporter