BCC tug-of-war takes new twist….Council lawyers say Deputy Mayor must go

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor

THE factional tug-of-war in council is far from over with Ward One councillor, Mlandu Ncube, vowing to stay put and fight to the end to ensure he retains the position of Deputy Mayor which the reinstated Ward Three Councillor Tinashe Kambarami claims is rightfully his and is now backed by council lawyers in the latest developments. Bulawayo City Council lawyers, Coghlan and Welsh, have weighed in on the standoff, through an opinion advising council to reinstate Clr Kambarami as the city’s Deputy Mayor. 

In the legal opinion to the local authority, council lawyers advised the local authority that with the High Court order, the election of Clr Ncube as the Deputy Mayor becomes null and void.

“The Court has ordered the City of Bulawayo to immediately admit Tinashe Kambarami to Council pursuant to his re-instatement by operation of the law following the Supreme Court judgment. This therefore means, that having been re-instated by operation of law and the council having been directed to immediately admit Tinashe Kambarami, he must resume the position that he occupied before the said letter of the 11th of September 2020, that has been declared null and void in so far as it relates to him, was written. In simple terms, it means, he must resume his duties as Ward Three Councillor and also resume his duties as the Deputy Mayor,” reads the legal opinion.

They further noted that Clr Ncube should immediately cease to be the Deputy Mayor of the City of Bulawayo. “Conversely, it means, the current Deputy Mayor, Councillor Mlandu Ncube, who had been elected on the basis of the ‘vacancy’ in Ward Three and by the same token the Deputy Mayor’s position, ceases, with immediate effect, to be the Deputy Mayor. 

“Once the anchor of the ‘vacancy’ has been declared null and void, he no longer has a basis to remain Deputy Mayor. Indeed, in the words of Lord Denning in McFoy vs United Africa Co Ltd (1961) 3 All ER 1169 (PC) at 1172. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stay there. It will collapse,” reads the opinion.

Contacted for comment, Clr Ncube expressed surprise that the opinion was now out in the public, saying as council they were as yet to see the official document. “As the city’s Deputy Mayor I am shocked that the opinion is now out because the last I checked we had requested the Chamber Secretary (Mrs Sikhangele Zhou) to seek advice from our lawyers and she has not as yet come back to us,” said Clr Ncube.

Clr Kambarami on the other hand has said council’s continued delay in officially reinstating him as the Deputy Mayor was tantamount to contempt of court and he will be consulting his lawyers on the next step to take. “The judgment was served to council over two weeks ago, those who want to take the law into their own hands, I should warn them that there is something called contempt of court,” he said.

The High Court recently ordered Clr Kambarami’s reinstatement after he challenged his recall by the MDC-T.

Clr Kambarami was initially recalled after Justice Thompson Mabhikwa nullified his election as a councillor in a case where 1893 Mthwakazi Restoration Movement Trust was seeking an order nullifying his election as ward councillor, citing his criminal record. The reinstated councillor later won an appeal against his criminal case.

In his judgement, High Court Judge Justice Martin Makonese ruled that the letter to recall Clr Kambarami by the MDC-T was null and void as he was not a councillor by the time it was written.

Last Monday, during a General Purposes committee meeting to deliberate on the court order, both Clr Ncube and Clr Kambarami had to be requested to leave the meeting after the latter had stormed the gathering arguing he was the substantive Deputy Mayor. Council management and the Mayor, Clr Solomon Mguni, had to negotiate a compromise for both councillors to be excluded from the meeting.