Kombayi slams Gweru councillors for being uneducated

Gweru Mayor Councillor Hamutendi Kombayi

Gweru mayor, Councillor Hamutendi Kombayi, has conceded that the majority of councillors he is leading in the MDC-T run local authority are political eunuchs devoid of leadership qualities required to turn around the fortunes of the “City of Progress.”

In an audio recording which he posted on WhatsApp group, Gweru 24/7, Clr Kombayi harangued his “incompetent and uneducated” fellow councillors describing them as “opportunists who landed their posts through political slogans”.

He confirmed that he made the recording to The Chronicle yesterday. “It’s my personal opinion,” Clr Kombayi said.

In the recording, the Gweru mayor took a dig at council management which he blamed for failing to implement council resolutions, a development which he believes has resulted in poor service delivery in the Midlands capital.

“There are landlords and people who have land and own buildings as well as businessmen in the city (but) when it comes to elections you don’t want to participate. For us who are not educated, who are good at chanting slogans without property, (we) have the courage to want to represent you (sic),” he said.

“The main aim is to represent the interests of the people but uneducated people and people without property find it difficult to articulate the situation which makes life a little bit difficult. I would like to urge the educated, those with property and the business community that these positions of councillors were created for people like you to come and argue so that we can build our council and our town.”

Clr Kombayi tore into the Town Clerk Daniel Matawu-led management.
He said the entire management team needed to be replaced arguing that it had failed on its mandate to implement council policies.

“Our management here at Gweru City Council is not giving us the best results in terms of policy implementation,” Clr Kombayi said.

He said there was a need to employ heads of department starting with the Human Resources Manager to manage the 1,300-strong GCC workforce.

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“That’s my first port of call and secondly, we’ll now need to engage a director of Engineering and Housing Services so that we can see progress in the city.”

Clr Kombayi’s outburst comes in the wake of an investigation into corruption allegations at the council.

The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing recently dispatched a four-member probe team (commission) to investigate the affairs of council management and councillors, following allegations of corruption.

The probe team is expected to complete its two-week investigation tomorrow.
The team has ordered all senior council officials to submit their academic and professional qualifications for scrutiny.

Sections of the council have alleged that some of the city fathers are not qualified to hold their positions.

Clr Kombayi, Matawu and unnamed top officials are being investigated by the probe team for corruption after it emerged that they bought about 300 cattle without following proper procedures at a recent council auction.

There are also allegations of abuse of funds at the council amid indications that the municipality has 18 bank accounts.

Three suspended MDC-T councillors — Albert Chirau (Ward 11), Kenneth Sithole (Ward 4) and Moses Marecha (Ward 5) — are being investigated on allegations of abuse of office and council property.

In May, Gweru City Council workers went on a two-week strike that crippled operations and left most suburbs without running water and streets choked with garbage.
The workers were protesting over unpaid salaries and mismanagement of council resources. - The Chronicle