Yesterday, Residents Associations from across the country converged to discuss the ongoing recalls of councillors; a situation that has disoriented many urban local authorities in Zimbabwe.
The Residents’ leaders slammed the on-going recall of Councillors by the MDC-T as factional fights escalate between the Chamisa and Khupe camps.
The two political parties have gone all out to expedite their political power without giving any consideration to voters. Participants to the meeting pointed out that the recalls will have a negative impact on service delivery and will further push residents to the periphery of decision-making processes as they will be left without representation.
“The recalls are not beneficiary to the voter”, said a representative from Zimbabwe Election Support Network. He went on further to highlight that the declaration of vacant Wards by the Minister when the legality of the recalls is still under contestation was problematic and cause for concern.
The recalls will see a dent into the national budget as the government is going to spend US18 Million on by-elections earmarked for December this year. However, the availability of the US$18 million for the by -elections when the nation is failing in the health sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic raised a stink among Residents Associations.
Residents Associations resolved to call for an immediate halt of the “recalls” through engagement of the warring MDC factions amid revelations that next week the MDC-T Khupe faction will ratchet another wave of recalls that have a potential to incapacitate most MDC controlled local authorities.
“This is high time that Residents Associations engage ZANU PF, MDC Alliance and MDC-T as these recalls have a potential to plunge the country into a crisis, in fact it’s a national crisis”, said Mr Mfundo Mlilo former CHRA Director and Independent Local Government expert.
Residents Associations lamented over the abuse of the powers of recall by political parties and called for an urgent reform to the powers of recall given to political parties in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The Residents Association agreed that recalling of elected representatives be done through a referendum in order to restore the citizen’s voice in the removal of elected officials.
Twenty-one Residents Association representatives from all the ten provinces of Zimbabwe attended the meeting.