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Chombo's 'push and pull' at Town House
Valentine Maponga, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
October 24, 2004

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/read.php?st_id=836

THE "monitoring committee" that was set up two months ago to supervise the affairs of the Harare City Council reports to Harare provincial governor Witness Mangwende.

Ignatious Chombo, the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing told The Standard that, in turn, the governor was answerable to him, making him the person in overall charge of the Harare City.

Sekesai Makwavarara, widely regarded as a protégé of Chombo, is the acting mayor.

"The monitoring committee is doing its work smoothly so far but I am yet to be briefed by the governor (Mangwende) on the way forward. The members of the committee are reporting and he is also under pressure from me, it's a push and pull situation," Chombo said.

Chombo has on several occasions denied that there was a commission that was running affairs at Town House.

"Delivery of services is very specific and the team is there to monitor and ensure the smooth running of the council.

The revenue collection system will also be under scrutiny and how those systems are implemented is very critical," he said.

However, analysts said all the members in the monitoring team have strong allegiances to the ruling Zanu PF, rendering their appointment political rather than technical. Chombo has, since the ouster of the elected executive mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri, taken control of the city council.

James Kurasha, who was once a member of the Elijah Chanakira led commission between 1999 and 2002, chairs the committee. Kurasha also chaired a commission that was investigating Mudzuri before his subsequent ouster.

He has already been offered an office at Town House and has been attending all decision-making meetings of the council.

The other members of the committee are Tendai Savanhu, Mark Makanda, Tony Gara and an Engineer Muzuva.

Tony Gara is a former mayor of Harare and over the years has had dealings with the council through his family enterprise, Cleansing and Environmental Services, a refuse collection company. The council threatened cancellation of the company's contract for refuse collection after the city fathers said it had failed to deliver.

Gara also lost Mbare East to Tichaona Munyanyi of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). At height of his political career, Gara once likened President Robert Mugabe to Jesus.

Another member of the committee Savanhu is a losing Zanu PF candidate in the landmark 2000 parliamentary elections in Mbare West. He lost to MDC's Dunmore Makuvaza.

Savanhu was also a member of the Chanakira Commission that led to Harare losing its "Sunshine City" status.

It was not immediately clear what the minister's justification for Makanda's appointment was or what value he would add to the running of the city.

Muzuva is also not new at Town House and has worked with a number of commissions. He was brought to the committee as a law expert.

Town Clerk Nomutsa Chideya said they were working smoothly with the monitoring committee. "That is not a commission. It's just a monitoring committee and we have no problems with it. I hope it will help in the welfare at the council," Chideya said.

Kurasha said people tended to personalise issues when they looked at the monitoring committee. "You want to know who is in that committee, not their ability. We are doing a great job just monitoring service delivery at council and we forward our recommendations to officials."

Harare city councillors resigned en masse early August citing constant political interference in their duties. They said they were dismayed that government interference had prevented the elected Harare Council from carrying out its functions.

The councillors' resignation leaves the city with only nine councillors among them, Hubert Manhungo of Zanu PF, acting Mayor Sekesai Makwavarara, Tapfumaneyi Jaja, George Vlahakis and Grandmore Hakata who all defected from the MDC.

It takes 16 councillors to constitute a quorum but presently there are less that 10 councillors including those who defected from the opposition party to Zanu PF. Four other councillors declined to resign bringing to nine the number of councillors.

There were 46 councillors in 2002, 45 from the MDC and one from the ruling party.

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