MDC T to fire 4 Zvishavane clrs for siding with Zanu PF

Four MDC T councilors who joined their Zanu PF counterparts to sign a petition against Zvishavane Town chairman Esau Dube are going to be either suspended or chucked out of party, MDC T provincial secretary Zenzo Hove has said.

Dube has since been suspended from council by the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Saviour Kasukuwere on the basis of that petition.

Hove confirmed the development to The Mirror on the sidelines MDC T president Morgan Tsvangirai's visit to Zvishavane.

He said three councillors,  Fatima Phiri, Itai Pasira and Andrew Mare will be suspended from the party for two years, while council vice chairman Samuel Gadziwa be fired from the party.

Gadziwa faces a more serious offence in that he was instructed not chair council meetings in the absence of the chairman but he defied the party and went ahead and did so.

"As PAC we sat down and recommended that all councillors who signed the petition to sack Dube be suspended from the party. The recommendation will be deliberated at the Provincial executive meeting to be chaired by Party President Morgan Tsvangirai," he said.

Hove said the party wrote a letter to the four councillors instructing them to reverse the decision to fire Clr Dube but they refused.

MDC T National Spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said the party will take disciplinary measures to anyone who defies party directive hence the decision by PAC to recall Gadziwa from the party was inevitable considering how much he is versed with party regulations.

"There was a directive from the party that Gadziwa was not supposed to chair council meetings and only Councillor Dube was supposed to chair but he defied that hence PAC recommended that he be recalled from the party and council," said Tamborinyoka.

However, the councilors said the decision to fire Dube was triggered by the fact that Dube had refused to approve the town budget hence hammering service delivery.