MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has reportedly forced Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Solomon Mguni to issue a public apology together with his embattled deputy, Councillor Tinashe Kambarami for the humiliation caused to the city’s Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube last month.
Clr Mguni is reportedly forced to issue the apology when he, was in fact not part of the circus, but came in to pacify the raging differences between Mr Dube and Clr Kambarami. Clr Kambarami, working with his sidekick Clr Silas Chigora attempted to violently and unprocedurally eject Mr Dube from office last month. Mr Chamisa reportedly gave the directive after meeting stakeholders and the councillors at a local hotel last Saturday.
He is reported to have directed Clr Mguni and Clr Kambarami to issue a joint public statement apologising to Mr Dube and further dispelling a reported rift between the two city fathers which has seen the local authority being divided into two rival camps.
Clr Kambarami is out on bail after the Town Clerk filed assault charges against him and Clr Chigora. Mr Dube also approached the High Court to declare the attempted suspension as null and void. MDC-A Bulawayo provincial chairperson and Makokoba MP, Alderman James Sithole said the party was now waiting for the two to apologise.
He said the party had realised that residents had since lost confidence in the councillors owing to the incident surrounding the move to suspend Mr Dube hence the need for both the Mayor and his deputy to reassure residents that they were working together to restore sanity in the council chambers.
“The issue is that events leading to the attempted suspension of the Town Clerk have led most people to allege that there was a possible rift within council chambers hence the realisation that the two should issue a joint statement reassuring residents that there was sanity within the council chambers.
“Further there is a need for both the Mayor and his deputy to update residents on a number of service delivery matters which we discovered have been grossly misrepresented in the public sphere hence the need for this joint statement. I am in contact with both of them and I can assure you that the statement will be made in the next coming few days,” said Ald Sithole.
Contacted for comment Clr Mguni also confirmed the move revealing that they will be issuing the joint statement on Wednesday before the full council meeting.
“Yes we will be calling you as journalists before the full council meeting to issue this joint statement. However, it is not only an issue about the Deputy Mayor and myself, it is an issue of our key stakeholders so they know what transpired and where we are going as a local authority.
“Without pre-empting the statement, I can, however, assure our residents that we have moved on from what transpired and most importantly learnt from it. Councillors are now more united going forward and raring to do the duties they were elected to do, that is foster service delivery in the city,” said Clr Mguni.
Clr Kambarami said as leaders they must foster unity, learn from their past mistakes and work together for the cause of the city.
“The issue is that we have to work together as city leaders hence the need for us to assure our stakeholders on our commitment to both unity and the need to foster real issues, these being people issues. It is now all about uniting and remembering that we were all elected to lead and push for service delivery within the local authority. What I should emphasise is the need to learn from our mistakes going forward and unite for one cause,” he said.
The past month has seen the local authority rocked in controversy following the infamous attempts to eject the Town Clerk from office, this resulted in the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, July Moyo dispatching a commission of inquiry to investigate circumstances surrounding the matter.