MDC Alliance councillors have called for a special council
meeting tomorrow as part of their plot to suspend Bulawayo Town Clerk
Christopher Dube who has resisted their meddlesome conduct and overstepping in
the local authority’s operations.
The councillors are said to be miffed especially by the
Town Clerk’s refusal to let them interfere in the distribution of the $5
million ward retention fund, procurement processes and the employment of
community groups and control of the subcommittee on allocation of stands and
premises for development.
The subcommittee on allocation of stands and premises for
development is a subcommittee of the Finance and Development Committee charged
with, among other things, the allocation of premises for commercial, industrial
stands and leases of council properties.
Mr Dube yesterday confirmed receiving notice of the meeting
but said he was not aware that there were allegations against him.
“First and foremost I’m not aware of the allegations
levelled against me. What I can confirm is that the Mayor (clr Solomon Mguni)
gave me the notification of a special council meeting on the conduct of senior
management in the council,” said Mr Dube.
He said if it is true that there were allegations against
him, processes needed to be followed and he needed to be notified before the
meeting of the things he was being accused of.
Mr Dube said while he would not stand in the way of the
meeting, the meeting came with no motion.
Efforts to get a comment from Clr Mguni were fruitless.
In a memorandum to Mr Dube yesterday, Clr Mguni attached a
petition signed by councillors Donaldson Mabuto (Ward 10), Felix Mhaka (Ward
5), Ernest Rafomoyo (Ward 21), Silas Chigora (Ward 4), Tawanda Ruzive (Ward 6)
and Rodney Jele (Ward 23) calling for the special council meeting.
In the petition they cited the Urban Councils Act Section
84 (3) which states that, “The Mayor may, at any time, and at the request in
writing of not less than one third of the total membership of the council or of
six councillors, which ever is the less, shall within 14 days of such a
request, call a special meeting of the council”.
The councillors stated, “We hereby request a special
council meeting where we need to discuss the discipline and conduct of staff
and management.”
Informed sources on the matter said the council meeting was
a decoy to clamp on Mr Dube.
“There is a clique that wants the Town Clerk gone but their
accusations against him are as a result of lack of understanding of council
operations. They want to extend to the executive operations of the local
authority which lies within the purview of the Town Clerk.
“For example one of the councillors who signed that
petition wanted to meddle in the procurement process of the council where
councillors should not be involved. He went as far as notifying a bidder in a
tender that their bid had not been successful before council made a final
decision. It came as a shock when the bidder started complaining that he was
overlooked before council actually announced the winner of the tender, ” said
the source.
“On the ward retention fund, they want direct access and
control of the funds and control on the hiring of employees in the wards yet
that is clearly the work of council departments. There is $5 million involved
hence this campaign to control the funds.
“On the allocation of stands and premises for development,
an investigation committee into allegations of corruption at the local
authority in 2016 said councillors as policy makers should not involve
themselves in the subcommittee. The local authority had a similar problem with
the previous council and the issue has recurred.”
Affiliates of the anti Town clerk conspiracy leaders say
that there is a bomb shell awaiting Mr Dube tomorrow.
“Initially the plan was to leak the allegations in the
media through a journalist friendly to the councillors to soil the Town Clerk
that would then make it easy to suspend him. However, the plan changed and it
was decided to call for the special council meeting to discuss the conduct of
senior members but on the day, they plan to make direct accusations against the
Town Clerk then afterwards hold a subsequent meeting to suspend him in a manner
similar to what their colleagues did to the Gweru Town Clerk,” said the source.
As news of the MDC Alliance plot filtered, the Bulawayo
Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) condemned the self serving move by the
councillors. “A faction of corrupt councillors in the BCC who appear to have
vested interest in the procurement process of the council is now planning to
get the BCC top management including the Town Clerk fired. BPRA is in
possession of the evidence. These councillors want to influence the tender and
procurement processes and are now accusing the management of being incompetent
in implementing their resolutions,” said the organisation.
“Under the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets
Act councillors are not supposed to play a part in procurement processes. The
last group of councillors was warned against putting pressure on the management
and it seems once again the management has received another corrupt group.” Chronicle
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