SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Gweru mayor, Hamutendi Kombayi, has strenuously denied reports there are attempts by his fellow MDC-T councillors to unseat him.
He said reports that appeared in the state media suggesting all was not well in the Gweru city council were exaggerated, although he admitted there was an event that may have triggered all the ‘misunderstanding’ behind the reports.
‘There is no coup plot against me, and I will be the first to admit that I may have overreacted after a minor altercation I had with councillor Charles Chikozho. We are all humans and these fights and misunderstandings, you get them in a household between a wife and husband, so these things happen in life,’ Kombayi said.
Chikozho was the preferred candidate for the MDC-T in last year’s mayoral elections, but councillors defied party orders to vote for Kombayi.
Asked why he confirmed the infighting to the Chronicle newspaper on the sidelines of the May Day celebrations at Mkoba Stadium over the weekend, Kombayi retorted: ‘Like I said, I may have overreacted.’
Kombayi, son of the first black mayor of Gweru, Patrick, appeared to backtrack on what he told the state media, telling SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that all the problems have been sorted.
‘It’s now all water under the bridge. We have come to our senses and there is no need to pursue the discussion, instead we should be focussing more on service delivery in the city, other than personal fights that have been resolved,’ he added. In the interview with the Chronicle, Kombayi alleged that whenever he delegates duties to other councillors before he goes out of town, nothing gets done and believes he was being sabotaged.