THE battle for control of Chitungwiza City Council has engaged into a higher eager following government’s appointment of a ZANU PF Councilor as the Deputy Mayor of the MDC Alliance controlled council, Zim Morning Post can report.
Minister of Local Government and Public Works and National Housing July Moyo recently catapulted Zanu PF councilor Kiven Mutimbanyoka to the post of Deputy Mayor, igniting outrage from MDC Alliance Councilor, Chitungwiza Mayor Lovemore Maiko who says the appointment was illegal.
Mutimbanyoka twice lost mayoral elections, the latest being in 2019 when he lost to Maiko, of the opposition MDC Alliance, by 16 votes to seven during an election held for the post of Chitungwiza Mayor.
Mutimbanyoka will now fill the post left vacant after the Douglas Mwonzora camp recalled the previous Deputy Mayor Musa Makweza.
In a letter to July Moyo, Maiko said the appointment of Mutimbanyoka was illegal and it should be reversed.
“As appears in your letters, the appointment was purportedly made in terms of section 104(3) of the Urban Council’s act. In consideration of the legal counsel that I have received, the appointment is unlawful,” Maiko wrote.
“In my respect view section 104(3) does not give you the power to appoint an acting Mayor where the offices of both the Mayor/ or Deputy Mayor are vacant or where both are absent, or incapacitated or have failed to act. It is only when they are both for a reason or another unable to perform their functions that you can appoint and ‘Acting Mayor’ to perform their functions.”
“In this case a substantive Mayor is present to discharge his functions and so there is no lawful basis for the appointment,” Maiko said in the letter,” Maiko told the Minister to reconsider the appointment.
“I am sure it is not only Chitungwiza Municipality’s interest but also Government’s interest to ensure that the business of Council is transacted lawfully. This is why I kindly request you to reconsider your decisions as a matter of urgency and allow council to elect a Deputy Mayor as it should be in terms of the law,” added Maiko.
Circumstances are that Moyo alerted the dormitory town that he had appointed Kiven Mutimbanyoka as the Deputy Mayor.
“I have taken note of the contents of the letter dated 18 August 2021 in which a certificate of declaration of vacancy in the office of the Deputy Mayor Chitungwiza Municipality was issued by the Town Clerk,” wrote Moyo.
“The post has been vacant since 4 November 2020 and the council has failed or neglected to appoint a Deputy Mayor in terms of section 104 of the urban council’s act (Chapter 29:15). In terms of section 104(3) of the Urban councils Act (29:15), I do hereby appoint Kiven Mutimbanyoka, Ward 13 as the Deputy Mayor for Chitungwiza Municipality,” Moyo added in the letter presented during the 465 full council meeting.
However, Chitungwiza and Manyame Residents Association (CAMERA) Board Secretary Brighton Mazhindu has deplored the move.
Mazhindu said the section quoted by Moyo does not give him power to appoint a Deputy Mayor.
“The section he has quoted does not give the Minister the right or power to appoint a substantive Mayor or Deputy Mayor,” said Mazhindu.
Government has previously been accused by the opposition of meddling in council affairs to gain political scores.
The latest move will stoke the fire as the country inches towards the 2023 elections.
