Monday 29 January 2018

ANGER AS MAYOR REFUSES TO BUY CAR

Councillors here have accused the mayor of being selfish by barring council from buying a mayoral vehicle, a development that they said had set a wrong precedent.

 Kwekwe City Council has no mayoral car and the Mayor, Councillor Matenda Madzoke usually uses his personal car or an old model Mazda 323 when conducting council duties. Clr Madzoke, who has been in office for the last five years, insists that there is no need for a mayoral car arguing that funds meant for the procurement of the vehicle should instead be channelled to service delivery.

Councillors interviewed last week said the mayor, who is left with a few months in office, was being selfish and trying to score cheap political points by seeing out his term with no mayoral car.
“I think we need to be realistic here. The mayor has set a very bad precedent because it’s provided for in the Urban Councils Act that any local authority should have a mayoral car. It also applies even to towns, there is a car for town council chairperson but our mayor has been saying there is no need for that.

“It’s not his personal car, it’s a mayoral car, which will also be used by his successors,” said one councillor who preferred anonymity. Another councillor said Clr Madzoke was supposed to have supported the idea of having a mayoral car in the 2018 budget if he was sincere.

“Yes we agree with him that there was a lot that needed urgent attention than the mayoral car when he became the mayor. But he was supposed to make sure that in the 2018 budget there was a mayoral vehicle for use by the new mayor since there are elections this year. The fact that he blocked the move again shows that he is selfish,” he said.

Contacted for Comment Clr Madzoke insisted that a mayoral car was not a priority. He said funds should be channelled to service delivery ahead of other needs like purchasing luxury vehicles for the mayor and council administrators.

“I know some councillors are against this position but I think as city fathers, our mandate is to improve service delivery and this is a priority. “We did not need a mayoral car since there were vehicles that were already there. Herald

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