Dabengwa criticises Moyo

BULAWAYO Provincial Affairs minister Eunice Sandi Moyo's attempts to sideline the city council in preparations for the African Union Region V Youth Games has been described as a symptom of the governance crisis in Zimbabwe.

Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa yesterday said Sandi Moyo should let government employees and council lead the preparations instead of seeking to politicise sports.

The minister on Tuesday told a meeting in Bulawayo that President Robert Mugabe would fire her if she allowed the MDC-T-led council to play a leading role in the local organising committee (LOC) of the games set for December.

"It is understandable that the minister is anxious to ensure that she stays on the right side of her employer since she is a political appointee accountable to the head of State," Dabengwa said in a statement.

"However, her reported remarks go to the heart of the current governance crisis characterised by incomplete implementation of the new Constitution and flagrant violation of the spirit of that Constitution."

Sandi Moyo had also expressed disquiet over the involvement of Bulawayo City Council's director of housing Isiah Magagula in the LOC saying he was a "nobody" in the province. However, Dabengwa said the disparaging remarks against Magagula were uncalled for.

"In this saga the most alarming illustration of the malaise is the direct assault on Magagula who was referred to as a 'nobody in this province'," the former Home Affairs minister said.

"Apparently his crime was his co-option into the LOC in order to carry out the city council's mandate of liaising with the LOC and the contractors doing refurbishing of the games venues. Magagula's public service function was linked with the politics because it was implied that MDC-T political control of the city would bring ideas contrasting those of the ruling Zanu PF party."

He said Sandi Moyo should not try to politicise the city council, which has remained an oasis of good governance despite the collapse of other local authorities in the country.

"The city's professional and technical services have not been unduly politicised and this has allowed maintenance of relatively high standards of service delivery, management efficiency and prudent fiscal control," Dabengwa said.

"It is no accident that even in the murky 'salarygate' scandal of exorbitant payments to chief executives of parastatal entities and local authorities, Bulawayo featured among the better if not best of the more prudent. Therefore, in the skirmishes for political hegemony it is advisable to retain the non-political nature of the city's employees in the discharge of their duties."

Sandi Moyo was also criticised over the way she has handled the employment of locals by companies that won tenders to refurbish venues for the games.

"The issue of using labour from outside Bulawayo is a valid concern in the current high levels of unemployment in the city," Dabengwa said.

"It is unfortunate that in a fairly recent parliamentary debate the same minister Sandi Moyo insinuated that MDC legislators were being tribal when they raised similar concerns.

"This issue of the plight of Bulawayo workers should not be a political football, because the collapse of the city's industries and awarding of tenders to firms based elsewhere is a recipe for further decline and deindustrialisation."

Dabengwa said Zanu PF's policies had also been rejected by the people of Bulawayo and Sandi Moyo should respect that.