Bulawayo shoots down Nkomo proposal

Bulawayo councillors have snubbed a spirited campaign by the city's deputy mayor Amen Mpofu (MDC-T) to confer Freedom of the City status on Vice-President John Nkomo.

According to the agenda of last night's full council meeting, Mpofu moved a motion in April under the heading "Council calendar no longer followed" where he sought to have Nkomo honoured in line with council's 2010 resolution, NewsDay reported.

In November 2010, council resolved to honour Nkomo, but the event was postponed at the last minute following alleged intervention by senior MDC-T officials in Matabeleland who were opposed to the move.

In a hard-hitting council motion, Mpofu accused his MDC-T counterparts of abandoning long-standing procedures, which he said had "never happened before."

Zanu-PF, which previously controlled the municipality regularly, conferred eminent citizens with honours at the end of each year.

According to the report, chamber secretary Sikhangezile Zhou said the municipality agreed to honour Nkomo "on December 3, 2010, but (the ceremony) was postponed indefinitely due to circumstances beyond council’s control, which was consultations between the mayor (Thaba Moyo) and his political party (MDC-T)."

Several councillors said Mpofu's motion "should be withdrawn as the issues involved had already been adequately addressed by council."

Subsequently, council recommended that "the mayoral review ceremony (excluding civic honours and Freedom of the City which were shelved indefinitely) be held as appropriate each municipal year."

The matter was scheduled to be debated at the full council meeting last night. 

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