BULAWAYO town clerk Middleton Nyoni has died. He was 62.
BY NQOBILE BHEBHE
Nyoni passed away at a Harare hospital on Sunday evening after battling cancer for over a year.
Mayor Martin Moyo yesterday said Nyoni played a crucial role leading the city into the new millennium.
“Under his leadership he reinforced Bulawayo’s reputation of being the best managed local authority in the country,” the mayor said in emailed responses to Southern Eye.
“During his role as the town clerk, Nyoni ensured the city was kept abreast of changes and new developments.
“He was key in enhancing the city’s reputation of efficiency and transparency and ensured that Bulawayo City Council continued to provide quality services with its core business albeit with limited resources.”
Nyoni is credited with creating an environment that emphasised on productivity, cost effectiveness and teamwork among council staff.
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“It was during his term of office that the City of Bulawayo saw the introduction of the integrated results-based management, an initiative of the Ministry of Local Government and National Housing,” Moyo said.
Nyoni joined council in 1983 as a section accounting officer.
He held various positions, including being principal accountant, assistant city treasurer, deputy city treasurer and city treasurer. Nyoni was appointed town clerk on May 6, 2009, taking over from Stanley Donga, who died in 2007.
That was after the local authority had gone for three years without a substantive town clerk due to failure by the Local Government Board to approve a candidate from the submitted list.
After Donga’s death, government appointed Bulawayo provincial administrator, Khonzani Ncube as acting town clerk, a move that caused friction among councillors, who argued the Urban Councils Act stipulates that the chamber secretary should be seconded to the post in the absence of the incumbent.
At one point, council appointed director of health services, Zanele Hwalima as acting town clerk after the resignation of the then chamber secretary, Gilbert Dube, who was acting town clerk.
Last October, Nyoni survived a plot to kick him out of office, after he took long to return to work after taking sick leave to seek medical attention in India.
He is survived by wife Thabiso Nyoni and four children.
Mourners are gathered at at Number 5 Inglewood Place, Woodlands, Bulawayo.
