adminThe Rhodesia Herald,
February 28, 1969
SALISBURY City Council yesterday voted by 11 to 4 in favour of a resolution regretting a recent Press statement by Councillor F.J. Lovatt in which he described the Council as neither competent enough, nor mature enough to take over the responsibility of administering a Greater Salisbury.
The resolution, introduced by Alderman Bill Steer as a matter of urgency, got the council off to a lively and at times heated start.
Mr Steer asked that the council should also dissociate itself from Mr Lovatt’s “dreadful” remarks.
An amendment proposed by Dr Richard Mottis leaving out the words about dissociation was later accepted by the council.
Mr Steer described Lovatt’s statement as “particularly mischievous at this time” when the council was negotiating with peri-urban local authorities about the city’s future local government structure.
He said that if Mr Lovatt apologised for his statement he will withdraw his motion. Councillor Ivor Pitch said that when Mr Lovatt assumed “the role of the philosopher king then it is beyond a joke”.
It was regrettable that Mr Lovatt should resort to “this kind of slander”.
Dr Olive Robertson said that although she had some misgiving about the “enormity of the task” of taking over the administration of all the city’s African townships, she thought that the council had the competence to do so.
Mr Lovatt resigned from the Estates Committee in protest against the council’s decision over the Wanefield Shopping centre. This decision, he said was the “final straw”.
He said it convinced him that the council was not mature enough to administer all the townships.
Councillor F. Gordon Harper described Mr Lovatt’s statement as unfortunate and said that he believed that the council was not mature enough to carry out the enlarged responsibilities of a unitary system of local government for Greater Salisbury.
Mr Lovatt said that he had in no way criticised the Council’s administration of its own townships.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
People, especially politicians and those in authority should be tolerant and respectful of the views of their peers. Many a time, we have seen people at different fora such as Parliamentary sittings, clashing or even exchanging harsh words over contributions made by other members without weighing the merits of the contribution.
The capacity of Harare City Council to superintend over the affairs of the capital city has always been in question and today some of those observations have proved to be spot on. Council has consistently failed to provide satisfactory services to its ever growing population, to the detriment of residents.
It is important for people to introspect before making major decisions. In this respect, councillors were more interested in rebuking their colleague instead of using the time to look inwards and assess whether they were making the right decisions.
Online Reporter