Thursday, 16 June 2016
Statement by the MDC Secretary for Local Government – Eddie Cross
Since MDC won control of the urban Councils the Minister of Local Government has abused his powers under the Urban Councils Act and the Town and Country Planning Act to subvert and control the MDC Councils. This activity has taken many forms including:
1.The suspension and dismissal of Mayors and Council Chairpersons and even entire Councils on spurious grounds in order to intimidate and control Councils and to sometimes replace them with partisan Commissions which have then controlled all Council activity, abused their positions to make political appointments of senior staff and to misuse Council revenues.
2.The Minister’s abuse of his powers has extended to continuous interference with Council decisions and activities, long delays in the approval of Council budgets and orders to rescind Council decisions affecting basic issues and the general governance of Council affairs.
3.To use the control the State has over former commercial farms on the outskirts of the urban areas to settle hundreds of thousands of desperate homeless families in politically controlled and sponsored Housing Cooperatives.
4.Abused the ability to extort funds from both the informal sector operating in urban areas and the recipients of State controlled land in both urban and peri urban areas to the benefit of politically linked “Land Barons” who have amassed fortunes in the process.
5.The appointment of the Minister of Local Government as the Political Commissar of the Zanu PF Party confirms the role he is playing as a key player who can use his position and his Ministry and its considerable resources to establish control over all MDC led Councils.
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