Some CCC councillors in Bulawayo are reportedly plotting to defy party leader Nelson Chamisa’s directive to vote for David Coltart and Dumisani Nkomo for the city mayor and deputy mayor position, respectively.
In the run-up to the 2023 Harmonised Elections, Chamisa publicly endorsed Coltart as the party’s mayoral candidate in Bulawayo.
Coltart is a lawyer and former Minister of Education, while Nkomo is a civil rights campaigner.
The election for the city’s new mayor was initially scheduled to be conducted after the swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday.
However, the election was postponed to Monday after the Ministry of Local Government ordered all councillors to attend an induction meeting in Gweru on Thursday and Friday.
CITE reported that some senior CCC officials in Bulawayo summoned the councillors on Wednesday morning before their swearing-in ceremony and instructed them to choose their preferred candidates.
A councillor who spoke to CITE on condition of anonymity claimed that the CCC officials are against the election of Coltart and Nkomo because the two will not give in to their demands. Said the councillor:
The challenge is that there are people who want to go against what the party planned. There are external people, with huge amounts of money and with ulterior motives (of corruption) who are trying to push for their candidates to be elected on Monday.
They don’t want Coltart and Nkomo because they know they will not bend to their demands. There are reports that some councillors have already been given money by these people.
We also have it in good authority that they are hoping if Mabuto is the one to be elected as deputy mayor, then they can ride on that to push for their candidates again to chair strategic council committees to push their agenda.
It’s a pity because if they fall into this trap they will be recalled. That is the party position.
CCC national spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi told CITE that the councillors have been instructed to vote for Coltart for the mayoral position. He said:
As a party, we work with clear guidelines. Bulawayo has been advised accordingly on who will be mayor, and that is David Coltart. He was even endorsed at a rally in the city.
As for the deputy mayor, the councillors there have been told who has been chosen by the party.
Any other rumour will not be entertained and the party members are expected to act according to the guidelines of the party.
CCC won all the Local Authority seats in Bulawayo as well as all the parliamentary seats in the province in the 2023 Harmonised Elections.
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