ECAZ said the protection of the councillors, dismissed from the party on corruption charges, was confirmation that Local Government Minister, Ignatius Chombo, could not be trusted.
In a letter to Chombo dated September 4, 2012, and signed by the association’s Legal Affairs Secretary, one T Madamombe, ECAZ said Chombo’s reaction to the firing of the councillors by the MDC-T was suspicious.
“Defending the dismissed councillors instead of focusing on recovering the stolen public property is mind boggling. This will confirm the public notion that you need the corrupt councillors to facilitate your disputed deals,” read part of the letter.
ECAZ said being the Minister responsible for all local authorities in the country, Chombo was supposed to have brought up the issue of corruption way before the MDC because he had first-hand information on local government issues.
They challenged Chombo’s argument that the dismissal of the councillors was not a cabinet decision as he has previously fired officials from various local authorities without cabinet approval.
“Firstly, can you distinguish the difference between a Ministry decision and a cabinet decision? If these two are as different as they really should be, can you put into the public domain all cabinet minutes that authorized your dismissal of the entire councillors you have unduly fired across the country since 2000?” they said.
They accused Chombo of stalling the amendment of the Urban Councils Act through the courts in order to protect his own interests.
“Instead of appreciating your parliamentary colleagues in ensuring transparency and efficiency in urban councils, you chose a court intervention which, to every Zimbabwean, may be taken as a sign of bad intentions against the local government administration.”
The association said Chombo should start concentrating on ensuring that Zimbabweans got quality service from all the local authorities instead of unnecessarily meddling in their affairs.
The MDC last month fired 12 councillors from different local government authorities on allegations of corruption following an investigation by a committee that was led by the party’s Deputy Secretary General, Tapiwa Mashakada.
Chombo, however, refused to dismiss the councillors from their respective local authority posts, saying the MDC had made a party decision which did not have any effect on the councillors’ status. Chombo was not reachable for comment.
Post published in: News