Suburban
Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter
Ward 17 Councillor Jacob Mafume has been elected the new Mayor for Harare.
The election process took place yesterday at Town House and was live streamed on the City of Harare’s Facebook page enabling residents to follow the proceedings.
It was a closely fought race between Cllr Mafume and Ward 25 Councillor Luckson Mukunguma. Cllr Mafume garnered 19 votes to beat Cllr Mukunguma who polled 14 votes. There was one spoilt vote.
A total of 34 councillors took part in the election process with one councillor absent.
The elections were presided over by Deputy Harare Mayor Cllr Enock Mupamawonde with the assistance of senior council officials.
Cllr Mafume takes over from former Ward 27 councillor Mr Hebert Gomba who was recalled recently by the MDC-T party together with several other councillors.
This is the second time that the position of mayor has been held by a councillor from Ward 17 as the former Mayor from the previous term, Mr Bernard Manyenyeni was from the same ward.
After the announcement of the winner, Cllr Mafume took his oath of office and was adorned in the mayoral gear by council officials.
He was then invited to his chair of honour.
In his acceptance speech, Cllr Mafume said he takes over the position in difficult circumstances.
“We are behind schedule but I want to emphasize that the mandate is still the same as when we were elected a few years ago.
“We were elected to turn around Harare into a smart city.
“We are behind schedule.
“The residents deserve a break and the residents want to see us deliver,” he said.
Cllr Mafume said residents are not interested in politicking.
“Residents are not interested in politics where we take turns to replace each other.
“What we should focus on is to get to the work at hand (done). All of us need to bring stability to the city.
“We need to deliver services to the city. Residents require water, good roads and proper services.
“Residents also require that we be orderly in our conduct.
“Yes we will deal with issues that the past Mayor whom I have replaced was trying to achieve, chief among them is to deliver an effective service to the residents,” he said.
Cllr Mafume called for a corruption-free council.
“Yes we have to be corruption-free and we have to avoid the temptations that come with public office. We also have to avoid quarrelling with each other. We were not brought here to quarrel, we were brought here to deliver a service to the silent majority. A lot of things need to be done.”
He said Covid-19 requires everyone to be serious and adhere to the measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Cllr Mafume said residents require everyone at council to ensure they have an orderly city in order to improve the economy.
“We have our mandate from all our principals to be able to deliver and to be able to get to the work at hand done,” he said.
Cllr Mafume said there is need for stability at Town House.
“We need to avoid self-inflicted headlines that see us completely at each other. We all have to work to deliver a service.
“We have difficulties on issues of human resources; the amount of money we pay and the services that require to be done.
“We also have difficulties in the budget that has been outpaced by reality.
“And we have tried to find ways of delivering an effective service,” he said.
Cllr Mafume said the strategy was to prioritise residents and service delivery.
“We shall try to place the residents at the centre of our heated debate and that there are no scared cows; if we do not deliver, there will be consequences. We need to refocus on what brought us here.”
Responding to questions from journalists, Cllr Mafume said he would prioritise service delivery and deploy an “issues-based approach”.
“We must avoid the pitfalls of dramatics of politics of the day and hope to bring stability to Town House (because) our ultimate principal is the resident. All of us need to bring stability to the city. We as a city must survive, (the strategy) is to ensure we do not drown due to Covid-19 or economic problems. All councillors come from a ward where residents want services, I don’t see any conflict in an issue-based approach,” he said.
In an appeal before the elections, the Harare Residents Trust had urged councillors to set aside factionalism and elect a person of integrity who would steer the capital city out of its current challenges.
“The Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) urges Harare City Councillors to elect a credible Mayor of unquestionable integrity, someone who is not tainted by factionalism and who has a reputation for demanding transparency and accountability in the administration of public affairs. The majority of councillors in Harare have faced numerous accusations of corruption, especially on inappropriate land sales,” the residents body said.
