The opposition mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri, said on Friday the Zimbabwe government had formally dismissed him from office.
Mudzuri said he had received a letter late on Friday afternoon from local government minister Ignatius Chombo, which said: ”The president [Robert Mugabe] has directed that you vacate your office with immediate effect”.
State radio reported the mayor had been dismissed ”followed the findings and recommendations [of] an inquiry into allegations of misconduct levelled against Mudzuri”.
Mudzuri, a civil engineer by profession, said he was not clear of the grounds for his dismissal since he had not seen the findings of a government probe into his work.
”I don’t even know why I am being fired because I don’t know the outcome of the inquiry,” he said.
Mudzuri, Harare’s first ever opposition mayor, was elected in March 2002.
But he was suspended from his duties by the government in April last year on allegations of misconduct, mismanagement, defiance of ministerial directives and support for two anti-government national strikes.
The opposition accused the government of using ”political muscle” to interfere with Mudzuri’s work and of not allocating the city council enough funding and other resources to carry out essential services.
Mudzuri was elected on an opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) ticket and led a predominantly opposition council until his suspension a year ago.
His deputy, Sekesayi Makwavarara, also an opposition MDC official, was appointed acting mayor but she left the MDC last month citing differences with the party leadership.
During his one year in active office, Mudzuri was arrested twice by the police for trying to hold meetings with the capital’s residents without police clearance, as required under the country’s strict security laws.
He was released without charge after both arrests and his MDC party alleged the arrests were state harassment. – Sapa-AFP