Chitungwiza mayor Gift Tsverere and his deputy Jabulani
Mtunzi have consented to an order for them to relinquish their posts and allow
for fresh elections.
This comes after High Court judge Edith Mushore granted an
order effectively suspending the two politicians, pending the outcome of the
main application.
According to Kiven Mutimbanyoka, who was represented by Ray
Nembo, the appointment of the two was illegal.
In his High Court application Mutimbanyoka said together
with other councillors, they had received invitations from the chamber
secretary on September 1 this year to attend a meeting, which was scheduled for
September 4.
The meeting was for the councillors’ swearing-in ceremony. During the meeting, the court heard, the acting chamber
secretary also called for the elections and inauguration of the mayor and his
deputy, which was to be carried out on September 5.
The process was later shifted with authorities announcing
the elections were to be done on the same day, September 4 without the
mandatory 24 hours’ notice having been given to all councillors, as per the
Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15).
Mutimbanyoka said this prejudiced the councillors —
including him — because he wanted to contest for the two positions.
In their notice of opposition Tsverere and Mtunzi said the
provisional order had been obtained in a clandestine and fraudulent manner
insisting they never received notice of set down upon which they intended to
then file their notice of opposition.
The pair argued that while they do not object to the relief
sought by Mutimbanyoka they felt that council lawyers who were supposed to
represent them had shown bias towards the applicant.
“We then established from the High Court record a
certain…Makumbe at council offices had received the notice of set down and
ostensibly handed it over to council lawyers Messrs Matsikidze and Mucheche
without even advising us.
“…I am highly suspicious because this issue also involved
her superiors including…Makumbe hence she might have been directed not to give
us the notice of set down given that he also had not supported our election as
mayor and deputy mayor respectively.
“What is more confusing is that she went on to hand over
the notice of set down to our council lawyers who went to court without
consulting us even though they were supposed to represent us in our personal
capacities.”
The pair also opposed an award of costs on attorney
insisting no one should be penalised given the way the matter was handled.
“In fact, if we had been served with the notice of set
down, we are confident that it is the applicant who should have paid the costs
of suit on attorney-client scale,” the pair said. Daily News
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