Harare City pushes to replace ousted town clerk

Harare Residents Trust has said the City of Harare is pushing to replace ousted Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi.

HRT said it has been trying to put together facts about the potential candidates within the structures of the City Council.

"It is important that residents know that a Town Clerk is a very important actor in the provision of public services to the citizenry. The Acting Town Clerk Josephine Ncube is not the best candidate the City of Harare has to take over as the Town Clerk," said the trust. "The following are her major shortcomings, which appear to be innate, inborn and she cannot change that: These appear to be her central traits, she is intolerant to diversity, and is not a hands-on person when it comes to implementation of council decisions, she hides too much public information and is uncomfortable interacting with non-state actors who demand accountability and transparency. Ncube is comfortable working with very weak people and organisations who she can manipulate."

The trust said  she takes council business personally, and acts as if she owns the council matters in her hands.
"The main shortcoming is that she is rigid and lack creativity when it comes to tackling service delivery challenges. She is best as a background person but not very open-minded when it comes to pro-people engagement. Maybe this is derived from the fact that she is a systems person who believes things must be done according to the book, and it makes her too rigid," said the trust.
"She worked for too long with Dr Mahachi such that the rule of proximity has to be applied, it makes her an accomplice in all the evil that has taken place in the council. She is reasonably clean in terms of corruption, She is realistic when it comes to appreciation of the issues affecting the council," said the trust. "She is strongly willed woman with great potential when the right environment is there, and if she changes her negative personality."