GWERU city fathers have rejected a move to confer freedom of the city status on President Emmerson Mnangagwa after CCC councillors voted against the idea in council chambers on Wednesday.Gweru is the capital of the Midlands, Mnangagwa’s home province. Mnangagwa has for long been considered the political godfather of the province, which is also his citadel of power.
Freedom of the city status is the highest honour granted to residents who would have served the city in a befitting manner.
Gweru mayor and MDC-T councillor Hamutendi Kombayi was vigorously pushing for Mnangagwa to bestowed the status.In an audio he sent to The NewsHawks, Kombayi said he wanted the President to be honoured because he hails from the region.He argued that the honour would have pushed Mnangagwa to improve service delivery in the city. The audio was also sent to residents in a WhatsApp group called Gweru Resients and Rate Payers Association.“I did not see anything wrong with conferring the alderman status, the freedom of the city status to a President who comes from this region. It would have been a starting point for us to engage President Mnangagwa on issues that affect the city. Like in Gwenoro there are constant power cuts, we would ask him to look into it, the problem of bursting water pipes. It would have been a message to them that we have humbled ourselves although you are constantly attacking us so that you give us guidance and lead us. Remember, council is an arm of government,” said Kombayi. He accused CCC councillors of prioritising party politics ahead of the interests of the people of Gweru.“Conflict management is very important. When you are elected as councillor, you are no longer councillor for the party that you were elected from, you are now a city councillor who represents everyone, including those who do not share the same interests with you.“We cannot always want to play party politics, saying we are CCC we should always oppose the government of the day without considering the interests of the people first in regards to service delivery. No, it does not work that way, it doesn’t, we do not do that,” he said.Read more: https://thenewshawks.com/mnangagwa-denied-freedom-of…/
