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- Internal power struggles cited
- Is Govt targeting opposition run councils?
Scores of councillors and council officials have been arrested this year alone, in what one side of Zimbabwe’s polarised media has described as a deliberate and targeted operation against opposition officials running various Zimbabwean urban councils.
The other side, however, sees this as the legitimate work by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc), which has declared war on graft, in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies.
The arrests, which are mostly in the MDC-A run urban councils have seen officials in the country’s biggest opposition party crying foul.
On the other hand, Government insists councils are being inefficiently run, causing poor service delivery and illegal parceling out of land. Thus, the arrests are justified.
Just yesterday, 19 Chitungwiza Municipality councillors were arrested during a full council meeting. Four of the councilors are currently behind bars while the rest were released hours later without being charged.
Police said the councillors who were taken into custody had violated the Urban Councils Act. Other charges are yet to be brought forward.
Power struggles
Acting town clerk Evangelista Machona and Kelvin Mutimbanyoka are being accused of orchestrating the arrests or their colleagues.
Officials from Chitungwiza Municipality who spoke to Nhau soon after their ordeal at the Harare Central Commercial Crimes Unit, accused finance director Mrs Evengelista Machona, who is the acting town clerk, of conniving with the police after council had resolved to replace her with Engineer David Duma.
They revealed that a fearsome fight had erupted over the mayoral position and that of town clerk.
Nhau reached out to Mrs Machona but she was not picking up her phone. Questions sent to her via WhatsApp had not been responded to by the time of publication.
Lovemore Meya, the spokesperson of the council said he could not comment on the issue, referring questions back to Mrs Machona.
One of the arrested councillors, Peter Clever Matiringe, said the arrest came as a surprise.
“I am the one who was chairing the meeting, I was surprised by our arrest because we do not have any issues to answer. Since the time we came here (police station) we have not been furnished with details on why we have been arrested,” he said.
“These are labour issues that brought all the disruptions and we have to solve them internally not what is happening now.”
A well-placed source at the Chitungwiza council said Mrs Machona was eyeing the town clerk position but was not handed the post.
“I am very disappointed with what Mrs Machona has done to us today. There is nothing else, she wanted to be the town clerk but a council resolution denied her that,” she narrated.
“Councilors Mrs Mary Pangiti and Kelvin Mutimbanyoka are working hand in hand with Mrs Machona because Mrs Pangiti is eyeing the position of mayor and Mutimbamyoka wants to be the deputy mayor. Everyone is aware of this,” she narrated.
When interviewed by Nhau, Mrs Pangiti denied working with Mrs Machona and Mutimbanyoka, saying “whenever panoitika election panoita mutauro (there are problems every time there is an election)”.
Persecution or clean-up
Currently behind bars after futile attempts at bail is Harare mayor Jacob Mafume, who was arrested on corruption charges that involve illegal land deals.
His predecessor Clr Hebert Gomba was also arrested on the same corruption and abuse of office charges four months ago.
In recent media reports, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Nick Mangwana, said Government is not happy with the opposition-led local authorities, mainly in Harare and Chitungwiza.
“It goes without saying that there is a lot of poor service delivery in councils, all urban councils so to speak, so if you have poor service delivery in the council and on the other side you have a lot of corruption, you have a lot of land deals where land is being parceled out to people, to land barons and so forth, it’s a recipe for disaster
“So Government is certainly not happy with that. That’s why action is being taken to clean up the council so that the people that live in urban areas should not live like people in rural areas,” said Mangwana.
Opposition officials, however, argue that Government officials, who have been fingered in various corruption and abuse of office cases are trying to illegally remove sitting councillors.
They also allege that their officials are not getting fair treatment at the courts with the bulk being denied bail.
While opposition officials claim that the arrests are targeting their councillors, particularly the MDC-A, officials linked to ZANU PF have been arrested as well.
Harare town planner Priscilla Charumbira, who is wife of president of the Chiefs’ Council Fortune Charumbira, was recently arrested.
Charumbira allegedly irregularly changed land use for open spaces in Sunningdale and along Samora Machel Avenue before parceling it out to “friends” at the expense of the deserving public.
However, unlike opposition officials like mayor Mafume who is languishing in remand prison, Charumbira was immediately granted bail at the Magistrates Courts.
Worryingly or tellingly though, no councillor is yet to be successfully prosecuted to date. Nhau/Indaba
