By Correspondent
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has been accused of giving Council statements and positions without consulting fellow councilors.
The Harare Residents Trust (HRT) says Mafume has reduced the local authority into a partisan council through his activism.
“The Mayor of Harare should not continue like a political activist when conducting City of Harare business.
“Local authorities in Zimbabwe are governed by the Constitution, the Urban Councils Act among other laws.
“A local authority operates through a committee system where each Councillor is assigned to two or three council committees where they collectively deliberate and make decisions on key service delivery issues facing the residents.
Furthermore, it said those committees should make decisions and recommendations which are tabled and deliberated in the full council.
Only then can key policy decisions be made.
However, Mafume has been accused of not following due process by invoving councillors through the council’s decision making system before making several statements to the public.
“It now seems like he is consulting only a few people and pass their decisions as public policy.
“Our council should operate like the People’s Council and not a partisan council,” it said.
HRT cited the recent case of City Parking where decisions were made without consulting the public.