LOCAL Government minister July Moyo has told Parliament that the Local Government Board was yet to find a suitable candidate to appoint as Harare town clerk from the list of three nominees submitted last year.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
“The recruitment of the substantive town clerk for Harare City Council has taken longer than expected as the process has been marred by irregularities,” Moyo said. “The first attempt to recruit the substantive town clerk after the retirement of (Tendai) Mahachi experienced a major setback when council violated Section 135 of the Urban Councils Act Chapter 29:15, which requires that council should submit a list of at least three nominees recommended by council to the Local Government Board.”
The three names that were selected for final consideration were Hatfield MP Tapiwa Mashakada, Cainos Chingombe (council human capital director) and Gweru town clerk Elizabeth Gwatipedza.
Moyo said the second attempt to fill the same post saw council submitting three nominees to the Local Government Board, who failed to meet the minimum requirements as determined by the Local Government Board.
“Council was then requested by the Local Government Board to submit a list of all the candidates that it had interviewed to allow the board to interview the same and identify a possible candidate to fill the post. The Local Government Board has recently written to the city council explaining why they could not appoint a substantive incumbent from the list that it submitted to them. We now await council’s reaction to this communication,” he said.
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Section 135 of the Urban Councils Act provides that the Local Government Board shall interview every person whose name has been submitted to it by council and that the board can approve or reject any person recommended by the council concerned by giving reasons in writing to council.
The board should also send its report to the minister, and the decision of the minister on the matter will be final.
“The Local Council Board examined the three candidates and told the council why they had disqualified those members. It is up to the local authority to come to me and I will know what other steps to take because as of now, they are still silent,” Moyo said.