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Zvamaida Murwira/Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau—
THE Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere, has indefinitely suspended Gweru Mayor, Hamutendi Kombayi, his deputy, Artwell Manyorauta and 14 councillors on allegations of gross misconduct, incompetence and mismanagement of council funds and affairs.
Thirteen of the suspended councillors are from the MDC-T while three are from the ruling Zanu-PF.
The government will soon appoint a team to run the municipality pending finalisation of investigations into poor corporate governance.
Addressing a press conference in Harare yesterday, Cde Kasukuwere, said a tribunal would soon be established to look into the allegations and make necessary recommendations.
“We sent a team to investigate the goings on and the report points to a very sad state of affairs in the City of Gweru. In terms of the law, the first thing that we do is to suspend and we are appointing a tribunal which will now investigate the alleged offences. Those who will be exonerated will be exonerated and those found guilty will be dealt with accordingly,” said Cde Kasukuwere.
He said corporate governance systems in the city had virtually collapsed.
He added that the decision to suspend Gweru councillors and the mayor was not politically motivated as the government had done the same in Zanu-PF run rural councils.
Cde Kasukuwere on August 4 fired two MDC-T councillors — Albert Chirau (Ward 11) and Moses Marecha (Ward 5) — over allegations of abuse of public funds, a development that will see by-elections being held in the two wards.
The third councillor, Kenneth Sithole (Ward 4), who was facing a charge of assaulting a council worker, was given a final warning after serving a suspension for the offence.
Kombayi and his councillors’ suspension letters were delivered on Wednesday and come against the backdrop of a two-week audit exercise of the city council’s books by a government probe team which was in the Midlands capital a month ago.
Results of the audit are still to be made public.
“Pursuant to the investigations carried out at Gweru City Council, which revealed your involvement in gross mismanagement, gross misconduct, incompetence in connection with council funds and affairs, I hereby, in terms of Section 114 (1) (c), (d) and (i) (ii) of the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15), hereby, suspend you from being a councillor for Ward (…) of Gweru City Council with immediate effect,” part of the suspension letter, dated August 12 and signed by Cde Kasukuwere, reads.
“During the period of your suspension, you shall not conduct any council business within or outside council premises and you shall not be eligible to receive any form of remuneration from the council.”
Reacting to the suspensions, MDC-T national spokesperson Obert Gutu accused the government and the ruling party of “decimating the MDC in all urban areas.”
“The newly appointed Local Government Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, is being true to his political mandate of destroying MDC in all urban areas ahead of the watershed 2018 harmonised elections.
“He has decimated operations of a whole town by unconstitutionally dismissing two MDC councillors and suspending 13 others in the Midlands City of Gweru,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Gutu said Section 278 (2) of the Constitution makes it clear that elected councillors can only be dismissed after investigations by an independent tribunal, meaning the Minister no longer has powers to dismiss councillors.
Online Reporter