admin
dimension yesterday, with the MDC-T leadership denying that it issued an order barring councillors from holding annual elections.
The city has 28 councillors, with 24 belonging to the MDC-T while the other four belong to MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube.
The latest development has left the committee members, who allegedly insisted that they were acting on the behest of the party’s leadership in postponing elections indefinitely, with no leg to stand on and paves the way for a totally confrontational full council meeting on Wednesday.
Councillors are on the warpath after their counterparts, who chair the seven standing committees in the city, allegedly repeatedly resisted attempts to hold annual elections that could see them losing their positions. They have vowed to ensure that the item would be on the agenda, come Wednesday.
On Monday the chairpersons reportedly shot down a motion by Ward 6 Councillor Jennifer Bent to discuss the dissolution of standing committees and call for re-election of new members during the full council meeting scheduled for 7 December.
The councillors alleged that it was not the first time the proposal had been scrapped from the agenda, adding that the elections had never been held in Bulawayo, since the present crop of councillors assumed office in 2008.
The seven chairpersons make up the influential General Purposes Committee, whose chairperson is the Mayor, Councillor Thaba Moyo.
Angry councillors on Tuesday said members of the committee opposed discussion of the motion, going against the Urban Councils Act, because it was likely to result in them losing their posts.
The posts come with attractive perks that include all expense paid trips anywhere in the world on council business. They also have the added attraction of travel and subsistence allowances.
In an interview yesterday, the MDC-T’s provincial chairperson for Bulawayo, who is also the Minister of State Enterprises and Parastatals, Mr Gorden Moyo, said the party has not given the directive to stop elections.
“It is party policy that we do not interfere in the running of council. We respect the laws of the land and believe they should be followed to the letter,” said Mr Moyo from Harare.
He said the issue had not been brought to the province so far. “The party has not received complaints on the matter. As such we have not given advice to anyone on the issue,” said Mr Moyo.
He said he felt that the practice of rotating council committees was a good one, although it had no legal basis.
Clr Bent who has been proposing the motion said she believed the annual elections were good for the council because they gave councillors a chance to belong to different committees during their tenure.
She said it made them know how the different committees functioned, thereby making them able to debate more effectively on council issues, and at the end of the day pass informed resolutions that benefited the city and its residents.
Clr Bent said other urban councils, including the Harare City Council, were conducting elections every year and she could not understand why the situation was different in Bulawayo.
The General Purposes Committee’s members are Councillors Nduna Dladla (Finance and Development), Benjamin Sigwaza Ndlovu (Business), Elmon Mpofu (Audit), Thembeni Khoza (Health Housing and Education) Edward Ndlovu (Environmental Management and Engineering), Phinias Ndlovu (Town Lands and Planning) and James Sithole (Municipal Procurement).
Online Reporter