Bulawayo councillors have voted to renew Town Clerk Christopher Dube’s contract for five years, following a special council meeting convened on Thursday.
Dube’s current contract was due to expire on 30 November 2025.
Seventeen councillors supported the renewal, seven opposed it, and one abstained. The decision will see the contract renewed initially for one year and then for a further four years, without any performance evaluation or referral to the Attorney General’s office.
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) comprises 29 directly elected councillors and nine proportional representation councillors under the Women’s Quota.
Thursday’s meeting was held after the council sought the intervention of Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube to help resolve an impasse that had arisen following a public fallout between Mayor David Coltart and his deputy, Edwin Ndlovu, over the handling of Dube’s contract.
Tensions escalated earlier this month when a General Purposes Committee meeting on 5 November collapsed after Coltart walked out, saying the session had descended into “mayhem, slanderous comments, threats and shouting.”
He adjourned the meeting before any vote could be taken. However, councillors who remained in the chamber proceeded to pass a resolution extending Dube’s contract by five years, a move Coltart later declared invalid.
At Thursday’s sitting, Coltart, seconded by Councillor Dumisani Nkomo, proposed extending Dube’s contract by one year.
They also proposed that the local authority will engage the Attorney General’s office and the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works on the application of Statutory Instrument 197/2024 to fixed term contracts.
The proposal was rejected.
Instead, Councillor Mxolisi Mahlangu moved a motion to renew Dube’s contract initially for one year, followed by an additional four years, without any evaluation or referral to the Attorney General’s office. The motion was seconded by Councillor Ashton Mhlanga and adopted by the 17 councillors who voted in favour.
Dube has served as Bulawayo’s Town Clerk since October 2016, succeeding the late Middleton Nyoni. His initial four-year contract was due to end in September 2020, but councillors extended it before expiry. In February 2024, the council again renewed his contract for a further two years.
Before joining Bulawayo, Dube served as Town Clerk of Victoria Falls Municipality.
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