Factionalism hits Masvingo

REGIS CHINGAWO IN MASVINGO

The Masvingo City Council has been hit by a power struggle triggered by the suspension of the city engineer, amid revelations two factions are vying for the control of the local authority, Business Times can report.

Well -placed sources at the civic centre said divisions within the civic centre, which has threatened to rip the local authority apart,  emerged after the suspension of city engineer, Tawanda Gozo, in February this year, has adversely affected service delivery in the city.

Gozo was suspended for six months without benefits following allegations of ‘incompetence’.

The nasty infighting has seen one faction gunning for the return of Gozo, while the other is allegedly sympathetic to the acting town clerk, Edward Mukaratirwa.

Ironically, Gozo was Mukaratirwa’s boss. However, Mukaratirwa was elevated to act as the Town Clerk last year.

Several sources told Business Times that since the suspension of Gozo, some workers within the Masvingo City Council were not happy, resulting in poor water service delivery in the city.

Although Mukaratirwa was said to be trying to ensure that the city of more than 120 000 residents gets improved service delivery, Gozo’s camp is said to be throwing spanners in the acting town clerk’s path.

“The main crux of the matter is that there are now two camps at the Civic Centre-the one that is opposed to the suspension of Gozo as they feel he was suspended on flimsy charges and that is the camp  which is fighting  Mukaratirwa and the one which is sympathetic to the acting town clerk,” one source said.

He added: “Gozo still has huge influence in the provision of water services and it is not surprising that at times water is supplied with a darkish colour. There are some workers at Bushmead Water Works who are fighting in Gozo’s camp and they are making frantic efforts in seeing that Mukaratirwa does not succeed in his efforts to improve water service delivery.”

Another source told Business Times that recent reports of an alleged personal relationship between Masvingo City Council public relations officer (PRO), Ashley Jinjika and Prosper Tiringindi, the secretary of Masvingo Residents Forum, who is has been very vocal against   Mukaratirwa’s leadership, is a tip of an iceberg of how factionalism is ruling the roost at Masvingo City Council.

Jinjika, who was recently employed by the local authority to be the information czar of the city, however denied the allegations.

But, she is said to be under investigation.

“The recent media reports of an alleged personal relationship between Tiringindi and Jinjika, resulting in the acting town clerk saying the public relations officer was under investigation as the relationship was improper, portray that all is not well at the Civic Centre.

“Reports say the acting Town Clerk was not amused that Tiringindi was invited to a recent press conference where mayor (Collin Maboke) was addressing local journalists on the current water situation in Masvingo.

The press conference was presided over by Jinjika.

Jinjika is said to be under investigation not only on the alleged affair but on other issues.

As things stand, the Acting Town Clerk is fighting a camp that is opposed to his leadership and this is affecting service delivery in the city,” the source said.

Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance director Anoziva Muguti told Business Times that council officials must not let personal fights affect service delivery.

“We have heard that there are personal fights in camps aligned to the acting town clerk (Mukaratirwa) and former engineer (Gozo).The camps must take their fights elsewhere as this is affecting service delivery in the city,” said Muguti.

Gozo told Business Times that he was not prepared to comment on the alleged factionalism.

“I am sorry I can’t comment on the matter,” he said.

Engineer Mukaratirwa said he has received reports that there is a faction trying to derail his efforts to turn around service delivery in the city.

“We have heard that there are some fights and we have taken up some remedial actions,” he said.