City Mayor, deputy clash over laptops

THERE was pandemonium in the council chambers on Monday when Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Thaba Moyo reportedly clashed with his deputy, Clr Amen Mpofu, over laptops.

Council reportedly bought 29 laptops for councillors more than two years ago.However, officials are allegedly refusing to hand over the computers to councillors.

At a general purposes committee meeting on Monday, Clr Moyo reportedly said the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, Dr Ignatius Chombo, announced at the Zimbabwe Local Government Association meeting last month that councillors should be given the laptops.

A councillor who was at the meeting said Clr Mpofu stood up and said the Mayor was not telling the truth.
"The Deputy Mayor said his understanding of Chombo's statement was that local authorities who could afford laptops, after adequately providing service to residents, could buy laptops. He said the Minister stressed that although laptops were necessary, they were not a priority," said the councillor.

"The Mayor was angered by his deputy's contradiction and rebuked him, saying he should not lie to the committee."
A council official who also attended the meeting said an argument ensued between the two until the chamber secretary, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou, stepped in.

"She said they were arguing unproductively. She suggested that since the Minister who allegedly made the statement was still alive, it would be prudent to contact him and hear his side of the story," said the official.

There was reportedly great tension as the meeting progressed with the Mayor and his deputy allegedly throwing hidden barbs at each other in most of their statements.

"At the end of the meeting, departing from normal council procedure which dictates that an issue that has been set aside cannot be returned to in the same meeting, the Mayor declared that councillors should be given the laptops and the resolution was passed," said one of the participants.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Clr Mpofu said he was against the issuing of laptops to councillors at the expense of ratepayers.
"I will not speak about what happened in the meeting. However, I think it would be unfair to burden ratepayers with an expense. As far as I am concerned, I came into council without a computer and I think it would be fair for me to leave without one," said Clr Mpofu.

Clr Moyo on his part said the issue of affordability in buying laptops for councillors falls away in Bulawayo because the laptops have already been purchased.

"Affordability is not an issue. The laptops were bought more than two years ago. Ratepayers' money was wasted because they are lying idle. We have passed a resolution that we should get them," said Clr Moyo.

He denied saying Dr Chombo had ordered council to give them the laptops.
"I never said the Minister instructed council to give us laptops. In any case laptops will be part of service delivery because they help councillors to keep abreast with technology. They will also assist council to save money as the issue of printing voluminous minutes and reports will be a thing of the past.

It will also reduce council's carbon footprint and preserve the environment," said Clr Moyo.
Last month, council officials almost came to blows with councillors after they allegedly demanded a council resolution to hand over the laptops.

Angry councillors charged that since there had been no resolution to buy the computers in the first place, there was no need for a resolution to hand them over.

Councillors also demanded to know the policy that officials had used to buy themselves luxury vehicles that created a debt that almost led to council losing the City Hall, which had been used as collateral.

In 2011 council management clashed with councillors after it splashed more than $2 million on luxury vehicles for directors.