Knives Out for Harare Mayor

By Victoria Sithole

CHAOS is at the center of Harare City council over a leadership wrangle amid reports that former acting mayor Stewart Mutizwa, is refusing to hand over the reins to Mayor Jacob Mafume who returned to office after his suspension lapsed.

Mutizwa who backs the MDC T of Douglas Mwonzora who is accused of holding on to the mayoral vehicle and driver is reportedly doing so with the backing of Provincial Development Coordinator Tafadzwa Muguti.

Mafume told HSTVNews that Mutizwa with the backing of Muguti is causing havoc at Town House, through issuing threats of arrest and forcing councilors to boycott important meetings, leaving the city on autopilot.

“Council meetings are failing to take off because Mutizwa is moving around telling councilors that he has the support of the PDC who will soon cause the arrest of myself and also the arrest of councilors if they enter into a meeting,” Mafume said.

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Mafume, who has survived at the helm of the council by sheer grace following arrests and attempts to recall him, blamed Muguti for feeding the flames of chaos.

“He (Muguti) has created a disruptive element where the then acting mayor feels that he does not need to obey the law, he does not need to take cognizance of the law after being advised by the Chamber Secretary and the Town Clerk as to the position of the law,” Mafume said.

In an effort to block Mafume from executing his duties, the courts have been dragged to try and impose new bail conditions against him.

“They are now pushing the courts so that they block me from visiting the council so that they can have Mutizwa continue in my office,” he said.

Attempts to get a comment from Mutizwa failed as he was not picking his calls.

Council spokesperson Michael Chideme however said he was not aware of councilors being threatened to boycott meetings, while Muguti said he was not available for comment.