Chamisa fires Harare Mayor Mafume, six other councillors for “scheming” with Tshabangu
CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) President Nelson Chamisa has fired his Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume and six other councillors for aligning themselves with self-proclaimed party Secretary General Sengezo Tshabangu and fanning chaos in the party.
Mafume’s expulsion comes barely a month after he was re-elected as Harare Mayor under unclear circumstances that kickstarted the end of his role in CCC.
His election was dominated by allegations he had convinced Tshabangu to recall then Mayor Lovejoy Chitengu so he could force his way back. He is reported to have demanded that councillors vote for him, telling them he held the keys to their continued stay at Town House.
Mafume was reportedly hurt by Chamisa’s decision not to second him for re-election following August’s General Elections. He had hoped for a second term after finishing off former Harare Mayor, Herbert Gomba’s term.
The other six councillors who have been reportedly fired are Bulawayo’s Deputy Mayor Edwin Ndlovu, Mutare Mayor Sophia Gwasira, her deputy Cloud Nengomasha, and two unnamed councillors in Marondera and Harare.
“Mafume has been fired for his role in destabilising the party,” said a source close to developments.
“He has been fired alongside six other Councillors from across the country. Expect more of these decisions as the party has been observing and now knows those against its agenda.”
The six Councillors were reportedly fired for similar ‘crimes.’
Tshabangu, a former MDC provincial youth chairperson and MDC-N member, has been wreaking havoc within the CCC by recalling its Members of Parliament (MPs) without remorse.
The recalls, which he argues were fueled by the need to correct anomalies and disrespect of party processes have, according to his ally Mbuso Siso, been hijacked by Chamisa’s bitter deputy Tendai Biti.
“What I know is Biti and Mafume hijacked the process in Harare. It is no longer what we intended at the start, but there are internal CCC issues which we still need to resolve,” he told local newspaper The NewsHawks.
Biti, angered by Chamisa’s disregard for his experience and past roles in opposition politics has reportedly been pulling strings to ensure the CCC’s end.
Mafume has always been a Biti fan, having chosen to side with him in his People Democratic Party (PDP) experiment after a fallout with pro-democracy icon late Morgan Tsvangirai.
It is yet to be seen whether the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will acknowledge this wave of expulsions seeing as Parliament chose to ignore letters signed by Chamisa which it had even acknowledged.
