Bulawayo City Council finally awards civic honours
POLITICAL interference by the MDC-T delayed the conferment of the honour of Freedom of the City of Bulawayo on the late Vice-President Dr John Nkomo, making it difficult for the council to confer any other honour in the city for more than 10 years.
Civic honours are awarded for community work mainly contributing to the development of the city.
e annual event had been on hold for more than a decade until Monday when the city council elevated 17 councillors and former councillors to alderman status and awarded Bulawayo businessman Mr Mohamed Esat a civic honour.
The event coincided with the Mayor Martin Moyo’s five-year review of his term of office from September 2013 to March 2018.
According to council by-laws, every August councillors are expected to draw up a list of nominees for civic honours but they had continuously been postponed for over six years after the council’s decision to award the late Dr Nkomo was controversially shelved.
This came after then MDC-T vice president Dr Thokozani Khupe allegedly ordered the local authority to block the move.
The local authority in 2010 indefinitely postponed the event to honour Dr Nkomo until he died of cancer in 2013.
At one point the MDC-T-run council suggested giving the city’s prestigious award to their late party president, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, Ms Khupe and the then Water Resources Development and Management Minister Dr Samuel Sipepa Nkomo.
The development sparked outrage among Bulawayo residents, who said Mr Tsvangirai did not deserve the honour because he had not contributed anything to Bulawayo.
Former Mayor Cllr Thaba Moyo yesterday told The Chronicle that the conferment of the Freedom of the City status to the late Dr Nkomo was resolved while he was in office.
He, however, said it was the duty of the council to explain why it did not happen.
Sources within the council said the annual event was disturbed by the political interference by the MDC-T.
“The resolution was passed by councillors but Ms Khupe blocked it. There was too much interference from her and this saw the council going for several years without holding the annual event to confer any civic award,” said one of the councillors.
Former Mayor Cllr Thaba Moyo and former Deputy Mayor Amen Mpofu were elevated to Alderman during the ceremony on Monday together with former councillors Elmon Mpofu and Israel Mabaleka.
A person who has been a councillor for 10 years becomes an Alderman while a mayor who has been in office for eight years is conferred with the status.
Councillors who were also honoured with Alderman status included Phineas Ndlovu, Clyton Zana, Collet Ndhlovu, Ephraim Ncube, Ernest Rafomoyo, Gideon Mangena, James Sithole, Lot Siziba, Monica Lubimbi, Norman Hlabani and Siboniso Khumalo.
Cllr Lubimbi became the first woman in Bulawayo to be conferred with Alderman status.
Recipients of this award get a certificate and sign in the civic honour book, which is counter signed by the town clerk and the mayor.
Since 1980 the city has conferred six Freedom of the City accolades and 54 civic honours. Among those that got the Freedom of the City are President Mugabe (23 July 1986), Bulawayo District Zimbabwe National Army (3 March 1989), One Brigade Zimbabwe National Army (3 March 1989), the late Vice-President of Zimbabwe Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo (27 February 1992), former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki (5 May 2000), and the late Vice-President of Zimbabwe Joseph Msika (25 August 2006).—@ pamelashumba1