VICTORIA Falls City councillors on Tuesday barred city mayor, Councillor Somvelo Dlamini from chairing a meeting saying he was ineligible because of his pending fraud charges.
Councillors said Dlamini, who was arrested in October last year by a Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) crack team on charges of fraud involving a commercial stand valued at over US$90 000, could not chair the council meeting as the case is still pending in the courts.
They also invoked a circular from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works directing all local authorities not to allow any council official facing criminal charges to carry out official duty until his or her case is finalised.
The councillors were supposed to deliberate on a report produced by investigators commissioned by Government to investigate allegations of corruption against Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube.
The inquiry was made in terms of Section 311(2) of the Urban Councils Act following allegations of corruption against Mr Dube by Clr Dlamini and the Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association (Vifacora).
The investigating team came up with 25 allegations against Mr Dube which include failure to have a housing policy, unprocedural allocation of land, leasing of the council brewery, sale of stand number 8300, incompetence and failure to supervise staff among others.
Local Government and Public Works Deputy Minister Marian Chombo handed the report to council a fortnight ago but said its contents will only be made public after councillors deliberate on it.
Councillors said Clr Dlamini could not chair the meeting as he is a complainant in the issue at hand.
Clr Dlamini requested councillors to cite any law stopping him from chairing council meetings.
He sat on his chair flanked by his deputy Cllr Patricia Mwale and Mr Dube and as he introduced the meeting, Cllr Lungile Nyoni interjected.
The meeting turned chaotic as councillors shouted at Clr Dlamini saying he could not chair the meeting.
At some point Cllr Prince Thuso Moyo asked Clr Dlamini to seek clarification and guidance from Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo.
“Who is chairing this meeting because you can’t chair? It was said in our last meeting that you cannot chair. You are our mayor but today I don’t recognise you as the mayor,” said Clr Nyoni.
Clr Dlamini said there is no law stopping him from chairing meetings.
“We can’t base on precedence but law. The directive that I should not chair was for the previous meeting only. Show me the law that stops me from chairing,” said Clr Dlamini.
Cllr Tonderai Mutasa said Clr Dlamini as a complainant could not chair the meeting.
“You are the complainant and you want to preside over your own case. For ethical reasons may you excuse yourself so that the meeting can start and besides, that will be good leadership as you will be training others,” said Cllr Mutasa.
The deputy Mayor concurred saying Clr Dlamini could not chair the meeting as a complainant.
Councillors said if Clr Dlamini chaired the meeting, all proceedings would be a nullity.
When Clr Dlamini suggested that the meeting be adjourned to another date, councillors said he had no mandate to adjourn since he was not eligible to chair.
Cllr Mwale eventually adjourned the meeting to a date to be announced.
In an interview afterwards, Clr Dlamini said he will continue chairing council meetings as he is not a council employee and cannot be bound by the circular. “This was a special full council meeting meant to deliberate on the findings of the team of inquiry that was set up by Government. I am still the mayor of Victoria Falls until my term ends and I believe I will continue to chair the meetings. The circular interpretation is clear about senior council employees and I’m not a council employee,” he said.
Mr Dube said the council will seek guidance from Minister Moyo.
“This is a meeting that never took place because the councillors said the mayor could not chair as he has a pending court case. There is a ministerial directive that any council official with a pending court case is barred from council business. I believe a mayor is a council official and as such cannot be allowed to carry out council business if he has a pending case,” he said.
Residents said they were being shortchanged.
Vifacora chairperson Mr Kelvin Moyo said residents were disappointed by what happened. – The Chronicle
