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Chombo must stop playing politics
NewsDay
January 07, 2011

http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2011-01-07-chombo-must-stop-playing-politics

Even before the ink of his signature dismissing four Harare City councillors is barely dry, Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo, we are told, is preparing to drop his axe on seven more city fathers for allegedly going on an unsanctioned trip to South Africa.

Granted, the minister has local authorities under his ambit and can fire wayward officials at will, but the rate at which the minister is removing elected councillors makes it appear he has a mission and is deriving joy out of it.

In 2010 alone, Chombo fired five councillors in Harare and suspended six others.

The entire council and its leader, the mayor, have questioned the minister's actions and accused him of behaving in an arrogant, bullish and irresponsible manner.

In most cases, the mayor was informed of the minister's decisions after the axe had already fallen and without having been consulted.

Harare was not Chombo's only target. The controversial minister had his axe flying all over urban councils, the entirety of which is run by the former opposition MDC-T party.

This has made it difficult to dismiss public perception that Chombo has a clear motive — that he is out to undo what the electorate put in place when they voted in 2008 — a rejection of his Zanu PF party.

It is true that local authorities throughout the country have been unable to deliver — not only since 2008, but throughout the many years during which Chombo has held fort at local government.

Urban dwellers have cried their voices hoarse for clean water, good roads, refuse collection and functional sewer systems, but all they have received in reply are ever-rising bills and more burst sewers and deeper potholes.

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