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Harare full council meeting postponed
The Herald
March 26, 2004

Read the Harare City Councillors' statement

A Harare full council meeting that was scheduled for last night was postponed to next week to allow the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Ignatius Chombo, to address the council.

In a letter to council, Local Government permanent secretary Mr David Munyoro said the meeting had to be postponed to early next month and that Cde Chombo would advise on the exact date and time of the meeting.

"This instruction is in view of the fact that the minister would like to take the opportunity to address your full council on matters to do with urban local authority policy and general administration, particularly as relates to Harare City Council," said Mr Munyoro.

The postponement dealt a blow to opposition MDC councillors who had wanted to use the meeting to pass a vote of no confidence in Acting Mayor Councillor Sekesayi Makwavarara, who resigned from the MDC last week after accusing the party of harassing her. She now sits as an independent as she is legally entitled to do.

A number of councillors said they had wanted the meeting to proceed because they intended to approve a number of outstanding issues.

MDC council chief whip Mr Shingirirayi Kondo said the party’s caucus meeting held on Wednesday had agreed to stay the quarterly increase in rates that was agreed in the 2004 budget proposals.

He said the decision was reached after the councillors noticed that the economy was stabilising. Cde Chombo has said the determination on suspended Harare mayor Engineer Elias Mudzuri would be handed down next week.

The hearing into allegations of misconduct against him ended on Wednesday.

Several senior council employees, including town clerk Mr Nomutsa Chideya, acting city treasurer Mr Cosmos Zvikaramba and acting mayor Clr Makwavarara, gave evidence to a three-member committee that was appointed by Government to hear evidence about Eng Mudzuri’s conduct.

Chamber secretary Mrs Josephine Ncube alleged that Eng Mudzuri had asked officials to change tender specifications on refuse collection, arguing that the standing tender specifications excluded new companies wishing to bid.

But when the new companies were subsequently awarded the contracts they failed to perform. Rubbish was not collected in areas allocated to those companies, she said.

She also alleged that Eng Mudzuri had extended the tender period for water treatment chemicals, resulting in council buying chemicals on an ad hoc basis, as there were no contract suppliers.

Eng Mudzuri walked out of the hearing on Tuesday, arguing that he needed to have access to the report by Professor Jameson Kurasha before he could attend the hearing chaired by lawyer Mr Johannes Tomana.

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