Source: MDC roasts Kasukuwere – DailyNews Live
Helen Kadirire 29 April 2017
HARARE – Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC yesterday waded into
Zanu PF’s ugly factional and succession wars, accusing embattled Local
Government minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, of vindictively suspending
Chitungwiza town councillors to divert attention from his political woes.
MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu described the development as a vengeful move
against its councillors by Kasukuwere on erroneous suspicions that they
had supported the provision of transport to people who toyi-toyed against
the beleaguered Zanu PF national political commissar in Bindura a
fortnight ago, pushing for his ouster from the warring former liberation
movement.
This comes as Kasukuwere fired the entire cast of Chitungwiza councillors
and its mayor, Phillip Mutoti, on Thursday on charges of corruptly
allocating themselves $7 million worth of land.
Kasukuwere has since replaced them with a commission.
A livid Gutu accused him of working to settle personal scores, as some
within the Chitungwiza Municipality hierarchy had allegedly approved the
use of cars belonging to the local authority by scores of irate Zanu PF
who participated in the Bindura demonstration.
One of the bureaucrats at the Chitungwiza Municipality is said to be a
high-ranking Zanu PF official who apparently also sits in the Mashonaland
Central provincial coordination committee (PCC).
“Minister of Local Government Saviour Kasukuwere must immediately stop
behaving like a bull in a china shop.
“Kasukuwere’s malicious and unlawful action of suspending all the
Chitungwiza town councillors is actually motivated by a wicked and
malevolent political agenda.
“He is a man who is facing serious political problems of his own within
his faction-ridden and collapsing Zanu PF party.
“He is trying to divert attention from this and is creating confusion by
decimating urban authorities that are under the control of the MDC.
“The real reason why Kasukuwere has unlawfully suspended the councillors
is not because there is any concrete evidence of corruption against them,
but because he is seeking to advance his own personal interests by
victimising certain individuals within the Chitungwiza Municipality
administration, which individuals he suspects are responsible for ganging
up against him as he faces his political Waterloo within the deeply
corrupt and politically decadent Zanu PF Mafia organisation.
“Much as we appreciate that Kasukuwere is a notorious political thug, the
MDC will not allow him to ride rough shod over the clear and unambiguous
provisions of the law that administers the affairs of urban local
authorities.
“As such, we will definitely challenge this unlawful suspension in the
courts,” the angry Gutu railed, adding that the MDC had a zero tolerance
policy towards corruption.
“Kasukuwere has blatantly violated the law by putting the cart before the
horse, by purporting to suspend all Chitungwiza Town councillors before
due process has been undertaken.
“We are aware that the ultimate intention of the evil and insipidly
corrupt Zanu PF regime is to totally decimate all the urban authorities
that are under the control of the MDC as we approach the 2018 elections,”
he added.
Two weeks ago, angry Zanu PF supporters besieged Bindura where they
demonstrated against Kasukuwere and his brother Dickson Mafios.
Vehicles from the Chitungwiza Town Council were apparently spotted at the
demo, leading to suspicion that one of the executives at the local
authority had used them to mobilise against Kasukuwere, who is sweating
over his future in Zanu PF, after the party’s 10 provinces passed votes of
no confidence in him over a slew of untested allegations which include
creating parallel structures and planning to topple President Robert
Mugabe.
Kasukuwere and Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo, who is also facing
censure from his home province of Matabeleland North, are two of the
alleged kingpins of the Generation 40 (G40) faction which is rabidly
opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe.
Yesterday, Chitungwiza residents also slammed Kasukuwere for firing the
local authority’s administrators, accusing the minister of destabilising
MDC-run councils for political mileage.
“It has become a trend that when a commission is appointed to run affairs
in Chitungwiza they drain the revenue that is collected, which in turn
affects the quality of social service delivery.
“The accumulated debt that the city has, and the delayed pay dates for
workers is one such problem.
“We have had five commissions in Chitungwiza and each of them has had a
mandate of fixing one thing or another.
“However, all they did was make the situation worse for the town. Some of
the problems Chitungwiza has today can be attributed to those commissions.
“Residents need to be represented by people they elected because they will
be accountable to them.
“However, commissions are political appointees who do not care about what
the people want. Their allegiance lies only with the person or people who
appointed them and that is a huge problem for Chitungwiza,” Chitungwiza
Residence Trust director Marvellous Kumalo said.
Combined Harare Residents Association (Chra) chief executive officer
Mfundo Mlilo also accused Kasukuwere of trying to decimate MDC-run
councils.
“We have in the past warned opposition-run local authorities that as voter
registration begins, Zanu PF will sweep in and try to destabilise them by
clamping down on all their officials.
“There is a definite fear that commissions will be set and this is because
local authorities are Zanu PF’s cash cow as they collect revenue daily.
“They intend to use these commission-led councils to make it easy for them
to access revenue to fund their campaigns in the run-up to the 2018
elections,” said Mlilo.
Since his appointment in 2015, Kasukuwere has had many run-ins with
MDC-dominated councils, resulting in several suspensions and the firing of
councillors.
In 2015, Kasukuwere suspended Gweru mayor Hamutendi Kombayi and 10 other
councillors on corruption allegations and replaced them with a
commission.
Last year ,he suspended Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni twice over the
appointment of top banker James Mushore as the city’s town clerk.
Mushore remains suspended although he is entitled to a salary which
Manyenyeni recently said had ballooned to $125 400 as at the beginning of
this month.
Kasukuwere has also wielded the axe in Bulawayo and Zvishavane, further
raising the ire of the MDC.
“The regime is in panic mode. They know that the people are angry and that
Zanu PF is heading for a humiliating electoral defeat next year.
“The plan, therefore, is for the regime to cause maximum damage to the MDC
by creating havoc, confusion and mayhem through the malicious and unlawful
suspension and dismissal of our councillors countrywide.
“The MDC is a people’s project and no amount of Stalinist and fascist
machinations shall stop us from winning the 2018 plebiscite.
“The people of Zimbabwe are sick and tired of Zanu PF’s false promises,
rampant corruption and general dereliction of governmental
responsibility,” Gutu told the Daily News.
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