The Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to take Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere to court following his threats to remove elected councilors and replace them with state-appointed commissioners.
This comes at a time when Kasukuwere has suspended city mayor, Barnard Manyenyeni for alleged insubordination.
Kasukuwere on Wednesday suspended Manyenyeni on allegations of insubordination and disobeying the minister over the council’s appointment of James Mushore as the city’s Town Clerk.
Manyenyeni confirmed that he received a suspension letter signed by Kasukuwere. The minister, who has threated to appoint a special commission to run the affairs of the Harare City Council, has provoked the ire of MDC-T that now wants to take him to court.
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai told a news conference that his party was now going to court to seek an interdict against Kasukuwere.
Tsvangirai accused Kasukuwere of politicizing a matter that was merely administrative, adding that the minister’s actions were tantamount to interfering in the operations of the city council.
The Harare City Council said the appointment of Mushore as Town Clerk was above board. At the time of going to air, Studio 7 was failing to reach Kasukuwere for a comment.
In other council-related development, some street traders staged a demonstration at Town House complaining that municipal police were violating the law by continuously confiscating their goods.
One of the protestors, Tichaona Chifamba, accused municipal police of retaining the confiscated goods and sharing them among themselves.
National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe chairperson, Stan Zvorwadza, said vendors are forced to operate in the city due to the current harsh economic environment in the country.
Before receiving his suspension letter, mayor Manyenyeni had told the vendors to put their grievances in writing ahead of a meeting with them tomorrow.
Just after the vendors had left Town House, heavily armed police details arrived at Town House looking for them.
Meanwhile, some members of the Occupy Africa Unity Square pressure group failed to stage a protest for the second day running after police dispersed all the people who were arriving at the protest venue.
They wanted to protest against the assault of Patson Dzamara by suspected security agents during the main independence celebrations held at the National sports Stadium on Monday.
Patson Dzamara, the brother of abducted political activist Itai Dzamara, was assaulted after staging a one-man demonstration complaining that Zimbabweans were not free despite the country marking its 36th independence anniversary.
