Mafume fights 'null and void' recall as councillor

Harare mayor Jacob Mafume on Wednesday vowed to fight his purported recall as a councillor, describing it as "null and void."

Local government minister July Moyo on Tuesday wrote to the local authority stating that he was in receipt of a letter from the People's Democratic Party (PDP) recalling Mafume as a councillor.

Mafume became councillor in 2018 running on an MDC Alliance ticket. The PDP was one of the alliance parties. The Supreme Court later ruled that individual parties in the alliance could recall their members from councils or parliament.

By the time of the election, however, individuals purporting to be current leaders of the PDP participated as members of the Rainbow Coalition led by Joice Mujuru, this after the PDP's senior leaders joined the MDC Alliance.

Mafume told ZimLive on Wednesday: "The purported recall is null and void. There is a court order which says I can only be recalled by Settlement Chikwinya (former PDP secretary general), and he did not write this letter (to Moyo).

"This purported recall is an attempt to cover up the thievery, the looting, the waste of council resources that they are doing. I have refused to sign dubious contracts; I have refused to engage in dubious activities and I have refused to partake in the grand theft that is happening under July Moyo and his cronies.

"I dismiss the recall with the contempt it deserves."

In the letter to the City of Harare declaring a vacancy in Mafume's Ward 17, Moyo said he had received a letter from an unnamed PDP official "stating that Mafume has ceased to be a member of the party through automatic termination of his membership as he has since joined the Citizens Coalition for Change."

The High Court previously ruled that individuals purporting to be PDP officials capable of making the recall decisions were bogus.