By Paul Nyathi|A huge tribal storm is brewing in Bulawayo as the city prepares for the election of the mayor and his deputy on Tuesday afternoon.
The all opposition MDC Alliance councillors have been guided by the party to elect Ward 12 councillor Solomon Mguni as city mayor but councillors are set to defy the arrangement alleging the party leadership has no say in the choosing of the city’s first resident, it has been learnt.
In a party caucus held last week with the councillors, the party also ordered the councillors to elect ward 1 councillor Mlandu Ncube as the Deputy Mayor.
Party source close to the councillors told ZimEye.com that the decision by the party has divided the council on tribal grounds as some councillors claim that the two are being imposed on them to avoid having a person of Shona orientation as the mayor or deputy mayor in Bulawayo.
The 29 member council is divided into two factions with 17 of the councillors being of Shona orientation while 12 are of Ndebele orientation.
Besides the party efforts to have an only Ndebele people at the helm of the city, the other 11 Ndebele councillors are against councillor Mguni being elected as the Mayor preferring instead Ward 26 councillor, Norman Hlabano and Mguni as his deputy.
According to the highly placed sources, the councillors said to be of Shona orientation are moving to accept the party arrangement to have Mguni elected as mayor but on condition that one of their own, that is Ward 3 Councillor Tinashe Kambarami, is elected as Deputy Mayor.
The stand off has apparently been leaked to the residents of the city and has attracted huge interest from members of the radical pressure group turned political party, Mthwakazi Republic Party who have vowed to make sure that Kambarami is not elected as the Deputy Mayor of the city.
The group has mobilised residents of the city to attend the council meeting which has since been moved from the council committee room to the Large City Hall to accommodate the huge number of residents expected to attend the meeting.
Bulawayo Town Clerk Christopher Dube confirmed that the local authority will conduct the process at the Large City Hall deviating from the norm where it’s done privately at the Committee Room.
“Bulawayo residents want to know what is happening and in promoting transparency, we have resolved to have the meeting at the Large City Hall.
“Normally this should be a Special Full Council meeting which is held not even at the Council Chambers but at the Committee Room in closed doors. But because we want this to be transparent we will allow everyone to come in,” said Mr Dube.
He said the municipality considered that the Council Chambers will be too small to accommodate residents as evidenced by the scores who turned out last Friday at the swearing in ceremony of the councillors.
“We considered that if we hold it at the Council Chambers other people will not be accommodated like what happened during the swearing in ceremony. So we’re going to be conducting the ceremony at the Large City Hall.”
Dube said police will be there to maintain peace during the process.
“And police have confirmed their presence. We want to barricade some areas to ensure that residents do not access a certain area so that they will not interfere with proceedings,” he said.
“We want the process to be done without any disturbance so councillors should be in a position to elect the mayor and deputy mayor of their choice.”
Bulawayo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango urged residents to abide by the law during the election process.
“We are appealing to Bulawayo residents to follow the proceedings without any interference. Police will be out to maintain peace.
“However, they will arrest anyone who will breach the law. They should also respect police officers who will be deployed on duty,” said Insp Simango.