Staff Reporter
The Citizens Coalition for Change’s (CCC) Harare Mayor, Jacob Mafume has accused fellow CCC councillors of lying that he was fired as the city’s mayor.
In a press conference yesterday, Mafume alleged that some CCC councillors were always under the influence of drugs, and this was causing them to end up pushing some false narratives for political grandstanding.
Mafume dismissed rumours of his dismissal from the mayoral office and accused CCC councillors, Blessing Duma and Jakopo Chibaba of lying to the world that he was dismissed.
Mafume further accused the duo of jeopardizing the decision-making process in the council by attending special council meetings under the influence of substances.
“The constitution is very clear on how councillors leave the office and how a mayor leaves the office, and one of them is certainly not by-passing motions in the chambers. We corrected the councillors (Duma and Chibaba), and if you look at the videos, the councillor merrily continued to acknowledge his legitimate worship.
“When we come to meetings, people take different substances, and certain substances confuse the person, and it takes time for the substance to subside. Once they did, we were able to hold the meeting properly," said Mafume.
Furthermore, Mafume strongly criticized the councillors for their inadequate grasp of the legal framework.
"Our understanding of the law is very different as councillors, and so sometimes our levels of comprehension are different depending on the tools one developed themselves before they became councillors. Sometimes someone misreads the law, or sometimes they clearly fail to understand the law completely and raise their hands to mouth things, that are either illegal, unattainable or unviable," Mafume stated.
Political analyst, Calvin Chitsunge weighed in, saying that it is now clear that the CCC is now a political formation without order.
"Most councillors were handpicked by Chamisa based on loyalty, not qualifications. The squabbles between Mafume and fellow CCC councillors are a symptom of the deep factionalism plaguing the CCC,” said Chitsunge.
Meanwhile, chaos and factionalism are coming to light as the CCC cracks deepen.
