The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has said that there will be “no mercy” for councillors and Members of Parliament (MPs) who are implicated in corruption.
The opposition party won 103 seats in the National Assembly in the recent elections, and its spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi said that the party’s local authorities would be guided by principles of transparency and accountability.
Speaking on This Morning on Asakhe, on the review of the 2023 elections and the way forward, Mkwananzi said its members deployed to serve in local authorities will be guided by principles which the party has developed.
“There will be no mercy on any councillor, MP or any party members deployed for that matter who is implicated in corruption, no matter who you are,” Mkwananzi said.
He said that the CCC president, Nelson Chamisa, has given clear instructions that corruption will not be tolerated.
“The president has been very deliberate in appointing the best personnel to lead our local authorities,” Mkwananzi said. “In Bulawayo, for example, he has appointed former senator David Coltart, who is a man of high integrity and has a proven track record of service delivery.”
Mkwanazi said the CCC leader has the ultimate authority to elect the mayors.
“Mayors are not imposed, if you elect the president, you give them the mandate to lead, you can’t say there is a president and is not leading, I don’t know how that would work out. The president is the ultimate accountable authority of the party and if the president does not provide the leadership, the party will be in disarray,” he said.
He added, “The residents of Bulawayo had a lot of issues in the past about the former mayors, Bulawayo was going down, service delivery is going down and the president must just seat, another guy comes with a bag of money buys councillors to become mayor and so forth, I don’t think that is the right direction.”
Mkwananzi said that CCC will not allow its local authorities to be captured by corrupt interests.
“We are not going to surrender our autonomy zones in Parliament and council, and we are not surrendering our autonomy in the presidency,” he said.
