Kasukuwere ordered to reinstate Kombayi

THE High Court has directed the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Saviour Kasukuwere, to immediately reinstate fired Gweru Mayor Mr Hamutendi Kombayi and Councillor Kenneth Sithole.

The two were fired in February this year by Minister Kasukuwere following recommendations by an independent tribunal.

Mr Kombayi and Mr Sithole were among 12 councillors who appeared before an independent tribunal headed by Mr Isaac Muzenda for alleged gross misconduct, incompetence and mismanagement of council funds and affairs following their suspension in August 2015.

Kasukuwere and Local Government Ministry permanent secretary Engineer George Mlilo on February 23 this year visited Gweru and told councillors at town house that Mr Kombayi and Mr Sithole had been fired.

The ruling by the Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi on Tuesday follows Mr Kombayi and Mr Sithole's application for review of the proceedings of the independent tribunal, which were handed down on February 23 this year in which Messrs Kombayi and Sithole were found guilty of two counts of misconduct.

Justice Mathonsi set aside the decision of the independent tribunal and quashed the convictions of the two applicants.

"I am satisfied that the applicants have made a case for the relief sought. In the result it is ordered that the decision of the first respondent (independent tribunal) be and is hereby set aside. The convictions of the applicants be and are hereby set aside," ruled the judge.

Justice Mathonsi ordered Minister Kasukuwere to reinstate Mr Kombayi and Mr Sithole to their positions and to foot the legal bill the two incurred.

"The first and second applicants be and hereby reinstated to their positions as councillors of the City of Gweru forthwith without loss of allowances and benefits. The fifth respondent (Kasukuwere) shall bear the costs of this application," said the judge.

The two applicants were fired after the independent tribunal completed its investigations and recommended that they be discharged.

Mr Kombayi's charges included authorising payment of $1 875 towards MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's stay at Antelope Park and refusing to surrender his mayoral vehicle, a Mazda BT50, to council after he was suspended.

He was also accused of blowing $6 907,50 on beverages during an MDC-T meeting.

Mr Kombayi and other Gweru urban councillors were initially suspended in August 2015 before they appealed and won a High Court reprieve.

Instead, the Minister appointed a three-member caretaker commission to run council affairs pending the findings of the tribunal investigating the councillors.

In October 2015, Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo ordered Saviour Kasukuwere to reinstate Mr Kombayi and the 11 councillors.

Justice Moyo's ruling followed an urgent chamber application filed by the 12 councillors seeking an order declaring their suspension null and void.

The judge said section 114 of the Urban Councils which Minister Kasukuwere used to suspend the councillors and appoint a tribunal was inconsistent with section 278 of the Constitution.

Section 114 of the Urban Councils Act, which has since been aligned with section 278 of the Constitution under which the applicants were charged, empowers the minister to suspend a mayor or councillor by written notice.

Once the minister has suspended a mayor or councillor, he or she is required by subsection (4) of section 114 of the Urban Councils Act to cause a thorough investigation to be conducted to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for their removal to be referred to an independent tribunal.