The workers, from a range of council departments, were told to leave after Kaukonde declared he wouldn’t work with suspected MDC-T supporters and councillors.
Kaukonde won the Marondera urban parliamentary seat on July 31. Nine of the 12 ward councillors are Zanu (PF) and, with majority in the council, Zanu says it wishes to work only with its party supporters.
“I, Ray Kaukonde of Zanu (PF), will never work with MDC-T under any circumstance,” he declared.
“When MDC-T came into council in 2009, they fired all Zanu (PF) workers and we are simply retaliating. Never will Samaritans and Jews work together.” He threatened to sue The Zimbabwean should it report on the firing of MDC-T supporters from council, claiming that the paper hadn’t covered the dismissal of Zanu workers in 2009.
In a surprise change of heart, Kaukonde later telephoned The Zimbabwean, this time with a more conciliatory tone.
“As MP, I will not celebrate dismissal from work of innocent MDC workers who happen to be Zimbabwe citizens. I realise everyone has the freedom to vote for a political party of his choice,” he said, radically departing from his earlier stance.
He said he had nothing to do with the dismissal of council workers, as that was the responsibility of the council.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said his party was aware of the victimisation of the 160 Marondera workers, which he described as unacceptable. They would be resisting the dismissals.
Post published in: News
It’s called tit for tat.Thats exactly what the MDC-T did when they took control Marondera town council.And given the corruption of the MDC-T led councils,who would want to inherit such a corrupt work force.