The Financial Gazette

. . . as Chombo takes poll fight to MDC-T

Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor

COMMISSIONS to run the country’s troubled cities, including Harare, are on the cards as Local Government, Urban and Rural Development Minister, Ignatius Chombo, moves to stamp out rampant corruption while at the same time attempting to dilute the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T)’s influence ahead of elections.
In Chitungwiza, the Local Government Minister has already flexed his muscle by appointing a five-member resuscitation team after the city fathers in the dormitory town turned the treasury department into a feeding trough despite the shocking levels of poor service delivery in the city.
In Mutare, Chombo suspended Brian James, the city’s mayor, paralysing the administrative function of the local authority in the eastern border city.
Chombo also fired warning shots in the capital. Towards the end of last year, he wrote to mayor, Mucha-deyi Masunda, accusing him of poor performance, signalling his growing impatience with the administration at Town House.
In the letter, Chombo warned Masunda to pull either up his socks or face dismissal.
Highly-placed sources said what has happened in Chitungwiza, Mutare and Harare was a precursor to far-reaching measures to be instituted in due course.
While Chombo has previously argued that he cannot stand aside while corruption and mismanagement takes root in councils, those privy to the goings on in the inclusive government say his actions were being motivated by the political dynamics at play ahead of elections.
Currently, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T controls most of the municipalities. With make-or-break elections expected this year, at least according to President Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF is pulling all the stops to secure victory at the polls.
Sources said the Local Government Minister wants to expose the rot in MDC-T-run municipalities to de-campaign them ahead of the elections while at the same time exerting ZANU-PF’s influence through the back door.
Chombo downplayed the threat hanging over the country’s municipalities in an interview with The Financial Gazette, saying he was doing everything in his power to ensure that the city fathers improve their performance.
He said councillors and managers who were unwilling to change their ways would be axed.
“It’s not a fact that we want to appoint commissions for Harare and Chitungwiza. That is not the correct position. The correct position is that as (the Ministry of) Local Government, we will continue to work with the councillors and mayors in these cities that were elected, but we will remove the bad apples. Those that are willing to work with us will continue working. We will organise workshops aimed at improving their competencies,” he said.
Sources, however, said it was just a matter of time before Chombo appointed commissions to run some of the country’s major cities battling poor service delivery.
Chombo is, however, likely to face stiff resistance from the MDC-T, which has in the past accused him of frustrating its mayors and councillors.
Already, there is acrimony between Chombo and his deputy, Sesel Zvidzai, an MDC-T appointee. The two have in the past publicly clashed over the running of municipalities in and around the country.
Zvidzai revealed this week that the MDC-T was aware of Chombo’s machinations.
He said there was no need for a commission in Harare, arguing the capital was being run by a competent team under the guidance of Masunda, adding that the current team presiding over the capital’s affairs was far much better than the crop of councillors under Sekesai Makwavarara under whose stewardship service delivery sunk to an all-time low.
He said the MDC-T wanted to clean the mess in Chitungwiza, but was thwarted by Chombo using his ministerial power.
“We did an investigation exactly three years ago and recommended that the councillors be removed. We then, as a party removed the whole lot of councillors, but Chombo protected them. It is now too little too late for Chombo to try and clean Chitungwiza, but we are clear on what he is trying to do,” he said.
Zvidzai said Chombo would be in breach of the law if he proceeds to appoint commissions.
“But we are on record and have been consistent in terms of our findings regarding what he (Chombo) has been doing. He has been acting very unlawfully. He is being informed by partisan thinking. He wants to win through the back door what his party (ZANU-PF) lost in March 2008.
“Clearly, Chombo is acting above the law. That is why the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government, which is composed of Members of Parliament from MDC and ZANU-PF, agreed that there is need to amend the Urban Councils Act, which Chombo is abusing,” he added.
Last October, Parliament adopted a motion seeking to amend the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15) to dilute the powers of the minister over municipal and town councils.
Chombo is probably one of the longest serving ministers for that portfolio.
Ironically, he has also been accused of corruption. Questions around his wealth gained currency after his ex-wife — who wanted a share of his wealth — released a long list of properties said to have been amassed by the minister since joining government.
But this has not deterred the minister from putting his foot down in councils. One of his favourite ways of dealing with perceived delinquency in councils has been to institute commissions.
This can be traced back to the tenure of Harare’s first executive mayor, Solomon Tawengwa (now late), who was fired in March 1999 on graft and fraud charges related to the construction of a footbridge and a bus terminus at Machipisa shopping centre in the low-income suburb of Highfield.
A commission led by Elijah Chanakira was put in place to replace Tawengwa.
And in 2003, Chombo expelled MDC-T mayor, Elias Mudzuri, on trumped up charges. Mudzuri was replaced by his deputy, Makwavarara, who later defected to ZANU-PF.
After Makwavarara, another commission, headed by Michael Mahachi, took charge only to vacate office in 2008.