BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA
MDC Alliance councillors in Marondera last week walked out of a meeting called by the Provincial Development Coordinator (PDC) Tarubarira Kutamahufa at Government Complex protesting the presence of a police officer.
This paper is reliably informed that the councillors protested why a member of Police Internal Security Intelligence was attending the meeting before they all walked out, resulting in the meeting ending pre-maturely.
Deputy mayor Bornface Tagwireyi yesterday said the councillors walked out of the meeting following the business community’s recent refusal to attend a budget meeting at council chambers.
“I was not there, but the business community reported us to the resident minister resulting in us being summoned to her office. Remember that the business community walked out of a council budget meeting recently, so the councillors did the same. I will get the finer details from the mayor because I was in Kariba,” he said.
Marondera mayor Chengetai Murowa was not picking calls yesterday.
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Marondera Urban Business Association (MUBA) chairperson Carlos Pindirire confirmed that the councillors walked out of the meeting.
“The councillors walked out of the meeting after the (PDC) had summoned them to deliberate issues that were raised by the business community. The meeting didn’t go as planned due to the behaviour of the council,” he said.
Government last week summoned all councillors following a chaotic supplementary budget meeting that saw members of the business community in Marondera walking out of the meeting accusing council of ignoring their concerns.
The business community under MUNA recently told council that they will only participate in a new budget exercise after council provides answers to their queries; among them the existence of a parking company that is collecting money from motorists with reports that council is not benefiting from the deal.
The MDC councillors, however, accused MUBA members for being linked to Zanu PF hence their move to disrupt their operations.