Winning local government Councillors still not sworn in

By Tererai Karimakwenda
April 16, 2008

While all eyes have been focused on the recounts of parliamentary ballots disputed by the ruling party and the delay by the Zimbabwe electoral commission in announcing Presidential results, the fate of local government councillors in the council elections has been forgotten. Normally they should be sworn in within a week and begin running local affairs, yet more than 3 weeks after being elected, ZEC has still not called them to duty.

Mike Davies from the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) reminded Newsreel that the winning candidates in the council elections were announced by ZEC the day after the election. But ZEC has not published a complete list of their names, or informed them when they will begin working for the people who elected them.

In Harare CHRA has called for a continuation of the rates boycott that they started when local government minister Ignatius Chombo dismissed the elected Council illegally, back in 2004. Davies said it is not clear how many residents have been withholding their rates payments. At one point CHRA believed about 5,000 residents were not paying rates and they later discovered that at least 30,000 were participating in the boycott.
Meanwhile the state controlled Herald newspaper on Wednesday boasted that the ruling party has been confirmed as the winner in the first recount results to be announced out of the 23 constituencies that they disputed. The result was for the parliamentary seat in Goromonzi West, which ZANU-PF won in the first count, so they simply retained the seat.
It is clear that the headline was designed to instill the thought that the original results were flawed, justifying the recount. The MDC insist that the recounts are simply an attempt to reverse the oppositions majority.
According to The Herald the SADC observer team says it is satisfied with the vote recounting process in all 23 constituencies. But our contacts report that the Chiredzi North recount has been shrouded in secrecy.
It is becoming clearer that the recount is a pointless exercise meant to delay real progress and keep Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF in power. With Councillors not sworn in, Presidential results being held captive and recounts yielding the same results, Zimbabweans have no doubt that once again Mugabe is just playing games and using delaying tactics.