. . . Hallucinates blocking the CDF from being disbursed
By Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – A heated dispute over the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) led to a dramatic standoff between Masvingo City Council ZANU PF and Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) councilors, forcing the recent full council meeting to grind to a halt.
Tensions ran high as two ZANU PF councilors accused Masvingo Urban CCC Member of Parliament (MP) Martin Mureri of deciding CDF priority areas on partisan basis while CCC councilors said it was the MP and the constituency development committee’s prerogative.
The heated debate that lasted for more than 20 minutes started after a report of the health, housing and environmental services committee meeting minutes which stated that the 2024 CDF was going to fund the construction of a market shed and borehole in ward 9.
“Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Housing and Social Services on the proposed projects to be funded by the 2024 Constituency Development Fund (CDF). It was reported that after having received requests from the Honorable Member of Parliament for Masvingo Urban Constituency, it was proposed that the 2024 CDF be utilized in the construction of Leopold Takawira Market Shed and drilling and equipping a borehole at the market for water supply. The proposal was accepted by the committee,” read the minutes.
ZANU PF ward 10 councilor Sengerayi Manyanga then queried how the decision to fund Takawira market was reached saying the MP was supposed to get priority areas from councilors.
“We need to know how much will be channeled towards the Takawira market. How was that decision made? The MP should come to us his councilors and we give him the priority areas not to come with proposals.
“He has never called me and I have never heard him doing consultations in my ward where he stays. If he cannot support the ward he stays then he should move out and stay in his constituency.
“He has to come here and explain to us how he decides where to use his CDF. He should not discriminate wards, all Masvingo City wards should benefit from CDF. We used to have former MP Jacob Nyokanhete who would give cement to every ward. We used to call him MP veCement (The Cement MP) he was not discriminatory. If the MP continues we will make sure that he doesn’t receive the funds,” said Manyanga amid murmurs of displeasure from CCC Councilors.
Zanu PF proportional representative councilor Sheron Marombedze supported Manyanga saying the MP was supposed to come and talk to councilors on where to direct CDF.
“Where does the MP get areas of need if he does not consult us his councilors? Who is in his committee here? We need to know the person who is giving him that advice. If anyone is sitting in his committee they should tell him that we his councilors are not happy, he should come here to explain himself,” said Marombedze.
Ward three councilor Maxwell Madhuna interjected and said they were not comfortable with Manyanga threatening them in the chambers and saying he had power to stop the coming of CDF.
“We cannot continue like this, councilor Manyanga is threatening us here, where does he get the power to stop CDF from coming, that’s a direct threat,” said Madhuna.
Manyanga, Madhuna, Marombedze, ward 6 councilor Wistaff Sitemere and CCC proportional representative councilor Alaica Time all stood up and continued to shout uncontrollably.
CCC councilors were arguing that Manyanga could not clamor for Masvingo Urban CDF since his ward falls under Masvingo North.
The same was said for Ward Two with Zanu PF councilor Benson Hwata which falls under Masvingo West.
They further argued that if Masvingo MP was to be summoned then all the three MPs whose wards are part of Masvingo City should come and explain how they were using their CDF.
The mayor had a torrid time trying to silence either party as they all accused each other of politicizing CDF.
