OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) interim vice-president and lawyer Tendai Biti yesterday hailed a High Court decision which clipped Local Government minister July Moyo’s wings over local authorities, saying the constitutional declarator had “now left Moyo naked”.
Last week, the High Court ruled that section 314 of the
Urban Councils Act, which allowed Moyo to interfere on decisions made by
councillors under the guise of ministerial directives, was null and void.
Addressing a Press conference in Harare yesterday, Biti
said the High Court judgment was also made at a time when there is a case
before the High Court in which Harare residents are challenging the US$340 million
Geogenix Pomona waste management deal saying its crafting was flawed.
“The relief we got here is called a constitutional
declarator; it’s just clarifying the law. You now need a judgment that says
what you did on July 9 when you wrote to the City of Gweru or City of Harare is
unlawful, and so that is why there are many challenges around the issue of
Geogenix. Tomorrow (today), the High Court will hear the matter on Geogenix and
decide whether the minister’s actions were lawful,” Biti said.
Today, Biti will appear before the High Court on behalf of
Harare residents who want the Geogenix Pomona waste management deal cancelled
because they feel it is “extortionary” by demanding that the City of Harare
pays US$22 000 per day for disposing waste at Pomona.
Harare councillors have already voted for cancellation of
the deal, but have been forced to maintain it by Moyo, who used section 314 of
the Urban Councils Act to issue a directive ordering council not to cancel the
deal.
“What this judgment does is to leave the minister very
naked. When we go to court tomorrow or any other day, the minister is now very
naked because his actions are illegitimate; paternity has been denied to him
because the courts will say that which you were relying on is unlawful. This
judgment then strengthens that argument,” Biti said.
The opposition has accused the ruling Zanu PF party of
meddling in the affairs of local authorities, which are largely dominated and
controlled by the opposition. Moyo’s directives have been blamed for poor
service delivery in Harare and other cities.
Biti said the January 11 judgment would go a long way in
ending too much government interference on how councils are run.
“July Moyo, in particular, has been notorious for abusing
section 314 and many of you will remember the countless times that Moyo has
suspended mayors by giving directives, and so this is the end of it,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from Moyo were fruitless
yesterday. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment