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The
Mayor of Harare returns to work
Combined Harare
Residents' Association (CHRA)
May 05, 2003
Chombo's
letter to Mudzuri
The Executive
Mayor of Harare returned to work this morning having rejected the
regime's attempt to suspend him. As a representative of the residents,
I accompanied the Mayor to his office at 10 am. after 20 minutes
Inspector Munaki arrived and wanted to know why the Mayor was at
work and requested that he hand over the office keys. We refused
to do so pointing out that :-
a] the suspension
itself was being disputed by the Mayor
b] Chombo had
submitted an urgent chamber application on Thursday to enforce the
suspension but then withdrew it on Friday thereby implicitly acknowledging
that the suspension is being contested and
c] since no
crime had been committed, the ZRP had no jurisdiction in what is
a purely civil dispute and Ins Munaki was attempting to carry out
an unlawful instruction from his superiors.
He acknowledged
our points and withdrew to consult his superiors. After some minutes,
he returned with a number of armed PSU details at which point we
denied him entrance to the office until the Mayor's lawyer arrived.
After the lawyer consulted with the police, we decided to get the
Mayor away since we were worried that if the riot police forced
their way into the office, they might be tempted into further illegalities
and assault the Mayor. I left with the Mayor but returned to find
that the police were still waiting outside the office, unaware that
we had used a side entrance. the keys were given to the Deputy Mayor
who handed them to the police. the police then tried to open the
Mayor's office - which was not part of their supposed instructions.
Fortunately we had bolted the doors from the inside and they were
unable to gain access.
The lawyer and
I then went to speak to the Officer commanding Harare Province Ass.
Com Baloyi at Central and again reiterated our position. He did
not acknowledge the illegal nature of their action and claimed to
be following orders.
The Mayor has
since recovered his keys and will continue to perform his functions
while we await the courts' ruling. We will be taking legal action
against the individual police involved in today's charade since
they have contravened the police act in accepting an unlawful command.
CHRA calls on
all residents to support our democratically elected mayor through
the following steps:
write letters
of protest to Minister Chombo Minister of Local Government, Public
Works and National Housing. write letters of support to His Honour
the Executive Mayor Town Hall Harare sign CHRA's petition attend
the consultative meeting at Town Hall at 1 pm on Wednesday contribute
financial support to the CHRA legal fund
CHRA will continue
to fight for democratic transparent and accountable government at
all levels of society. Support us by joining your local residents
association now.
Michael Davies
Chairperson
Combined Harare Residents Association
11 Armagh
Rd Eastlea HARARE
PO Box
HR 7840 HARARE
Tel 746019 or
776157
Private 498792
cell +263 (0) 91249430
email (direct)
gardener@zol.co.zw, chra@ecoweb.co.zw
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