1. Many people do not appreciate the importance of caucus meetings before the actual Council meeting
2. The idea is to secure cohesion and one-ness on certain agenda items: The election of a mayor is an important decision in our partisan councils.
3. I conducted the caucus vote for the Chitungwiza mayor’s re-run under the direction of the party’s deputy Shadow Minister.
4. We consulted the Shadow Minister of Local Government at least 4 times in the 3 hours to clear our path.
5. Democracy was at its prime: the guidance from the party was crispy clear: “Let every councillor speak out then vote by secret ballot”.
6. The outcome belonged to the councillors (not the party) and the losing councillors accepted the process had no flaws.
7. The councillors were not WHIPPED – they were given the mandate to vote their own person.
8. The obligation to carry the consensus outcome through to council was compelling.
9. It is a betrayal of the preceding process for any councillor to proceed to vote against their own collective decision.
10. There are times when the party must crack whip and bring discipline.
11. There is still 4 years of this elected term to run – if not checked some embarassing drama awaits these deployments.

By Ben Manyenyeni