By Councillor Mpumelelo Moyo
I am calling for peace, unity and a collective approach to issues affecting us in the City of Bulawayo.
After reading the Mayor’s narration in response to leaked memo on a council meeting on renewal of Towns Clerk Mr Christopher Dube’s contract I couldn’t withhold myself to respond on the matter.
It is sad that as a City we find ourselves speaking issues in the media instead of resolving our issues amicably through dialogue and diplomacy. I believe there is room for dialogue on the issue, according to me both parties have a significant following and should be respectfully engaged to map the way forward.
Mr Christopher Dube is a war veteran and a seasoned administrator having been a town Clerk in Victoria falls before being appointed a Town Clerk in Bulawayo. On the other hand the Mayor is a veteran politician who is also a former Senator and former Minister of Education. The two gentlemen should swallow their pride and engage each other for the benefit of the City in order to give residents of the City of Bulawayo a decent service delivery.
From the Mayor’s response it is true that the General Purposes Committee made their recommendations to the Full Council however it is the responsibility of the Full Council to accept the recommendations as they are or vary the recommendations before it becomes a resolution for the Council which is binding to everyone including the General Purposes Committee itself and the Mayor.
The other hot aspect mentioned by His Worship the Mayor Senator David Coltart is that there is a legal opinion that has to be sort from the Attorney General office concerning the advice on fixed term contracts in regards to Statutory Instrument 197/2024 which allows employees to work up to 70 years.
However, in this regard the extension of the Towns Clerk contract is the prerogative of councillors who then seek the consent of the Minister of Local Government and Public Works Hon Minister Daniel Garwe and it’s not associated with the Statutory Instrument in question.
However, the Statutory Instrument 197/2024 is only there to give guidelines that Councillors can not employ anyone who is above the age of 70 years. On the issue of performance contract, this is a key issue and all Town Clerks and Mayor’s sign performance contracts and are evaluated in the President office and in the event that the City of Bulawayo also wanted to have their own parallel performance contract it was key to include it during the signing of the contract and not mention it at the end of the contract because one needs to pen Individual Performance Agreement IPA and be given the Key Performance Indicators KPIs and Key Results Areas KRAs that they will be measured or bench marked against at the end of their contract.
In this case there was no such contract and the law does not apply in retrospect. The Mayor is so passionate about developing the City and this cannot be discounted from him. He works with his councillors who are hard working and differing opinions should not be a death penalty in a democracy which the Mayor stands for.
I continue to pray for dialogue, unity and collective approach for the benefit of the City. There are no winners or losers in this but engagement and dialogue should carry the day for a better service delivery for the City of Bulawayo.
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