Mwonzora on Kasukuwere's Harare Council attack

MDC-T Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora has lambasted Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere for plotting to replace an elected Harare Council with imposed Zanu PF aligned members soon after he suspended the mayor Bernard Manyenyeni.

"Zimbabwe woke to the news that Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere had threatened to dissolve the Harare City Council run by the MDC-T and replace it with a Commission run by Zanu PF," Mwonzora said. "In short he wanted to replace an elected entity and replace it by an unelected entiy. He apparently changed his mind and targeted only the Mayor Benard Manyenyeni."

He said in his simple mind Kasukuwere thought targeting Mayor Manyenyeni will be a magic divide and rule wand.

"The reason for this action was that the Harare City Council had refused to wait for Kasukuwere's choice for Town Clerk but had appointed a new Town Clerk on merit after open and transparent interviews that had been overseen by some key stakeholders in Harare including the Combined Harare Residents Association," he said.

"Minister Kasukuwere has no power in terms of the constitution of Zimbabwe to determine who the Town Clerk should be. He also has no power to fire Mayors and Councillors any more. When he tried to do that in Gweru the High Court delivered a judgement that set the legal position clear."

He said it ruled that the Minister had no power to fire Councillors and replace them with his handpicked people. Despite the clear ruling of the High Court Big Baby Kasukuwere still stands uneducated on that point.

Mwonzora said the MDC-T has decided that enough is enough and is not going to take Kasukuwere's illegal actions lying down.

"To that end a legal challenge has been mounted to reverse the illegal actions of this Minister. The matter will be filed in Harare High Court this morning. Secondly the MDC-T knows that when Kasukuwere did his illegal act he was behaving not as a minister of government but as the political commissar of Zanu PF. To that end the decision was political," he said.

"Therefore, besides the legal challenge , the MDC-T is preparing a comprehensive political answer to Kasukuwere's actions.To that end all MDC-T structures in Harare and the other affected cities are being prepared for the political answer. We stand by our persecuted Mayor and Councillors.The decision lies with Kasukuwere on whether to make Harare ungovernable or not. This is a fight that the MDC-T will not lose. Victory is certain."