By Lance Guma
12 July 2005

The Mayor of Bulawayo, Japhet Ndabeni Ncube, says he is not fazed by government threats of disciplinary action over a private meeting he held with the UN envoy, Anna Tibaijuka last week. He told Newsreel the meeting took place privately at the request of the envoy herself and not after he demanded the privacy as the state media are reporting. He said he did not make a request to bar three cabinet ministers from attending.

He says they were already part of the entourage moving around with the envoy at the Governors office. When the envoy left the governors office to meet the Mayor the government officials tried to join in. Ncube says Tibaijuka then instructed her assistant to tell them they were not needed in the meeting.

The Mayor says he read the reports carried by the Chronicle and the Sunday News criticising him, but that they needed to make a distinction between government and Zanu PF. As Bulawayo Mayor he said he did not report to Zanu PF.