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This article participates on the following special index pages:
2008 harmonised elections - Index of articles
Chombo
ignores elected councillors & appoints commissions
Tererai Karimakwenda,
SW Radio Africa (London)
May 29, 2008
http://www.swradioafrica.com/news290508/chambo290508.htm
The law in Zimbabwe
stipulates that newly elected councillors should assume office immediately
after the announcement of election results. Yet eight weeks after
the March 29 election, they have still not been sworn-in. Now Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo has reportedly appointed
commissions to run the country's major cities and towns.
The MDC immediately blasted Chombo for sidelining their elected
councillors.
The MDC won a majority
of the seats on local councils in most urban as well as rural districts,
and they now dominate municipalities in cities including Harare,
Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Mutare, Masvingo, Gweru, Kwekwe and Chinhoyi.
Mike Davies
from the Combined
Harare Residents Association (CHRA) described Chombo's
move as 'an outrageous criminal act by a criminal regime'.
He said there is no government running the country and what we have
is a criminal regime that is functioning under a veil of secrecy
to hide their criminal acts.
The outspoken activist
said Harare is being treated as one big money making business, and
that ZANU-PF is only interested in having 'a good time at
the trough' by looting the capital's resources, giving
huge contracts to their cronies and hiring their family and friends.
There are unconfirmed reports currently circulating in Harare that
there has been a massive employment drive in government owned parastatals
since the elections in March.
Davies said CHRA intends
to file legal papers to try and force the regime to install the
legitimately elected councils. He explained that Chombo and ZANU-PF
will ignore the courts as they have done on numerous occasions in
the past, but CHRA is taking the legal route in order to create
a record of the abuses.
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