A Bulawayo magistrate last Friday granted a peace order to Ward 13 councillor Lot Siziba against a residents’ association chairman and his deputy.
SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER
Western Commonage magistrate Tancy Chipumha Dube granted the peace order against Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association (Bpra) chairman, Aleck Gumede and his deputy, Elizabeth Mabhena after the court had ejected people from the gallery as they were believed to be supporters of the two and were bent on causing commotion.
Siziba is embroiled in a bitter power wrangle with Gumede and Mabhena and the former took the two to court seeking a peace order against them saying they were interfering with his operations.
Gumede and Mabhena on Friday appeared before Chipumha-Dube after Siziba, for the second time, filed a peace order application against his fellow political party member and Mabhena.
Both Siziba and Gumede belong to the MDC-T.
Chipumha Dube lashed out at Gumede questioning him over what the Bpra was giving him to disturb Siziba’s operations.
She ordered that if Bpra was causing him to interfere with Siziba’s operations, he then should stop being a member of the association or being a leader.
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The magistrate said Bpra was not authorised to disturb councillor operations. This was after Siziba told the court that Gumede was going around telling people not to pay rates to the council in protest against the local councillor. Mabhena had a different story in court, saying Siziba had proposed to her, but she had rejected advances and this was the cause of the animosity.
But Chipumha Dube would have none of it and granted Siziba’s application, ordering the two to stop disturbing the councillor’s operations and not to interfere with his ward meetings.
Siziba had filed the peace order application on December 12 2014 against Gumede and Mabhena stating that they were interfering with his council work and Gumede was threatening to kill him.
“These two disturb my peace by interfering with my meetings with residents at my house,” he said in his affidavit. “Gumede insults me.” Ward 13 comprises Mabuthweni, Iminyela, Pelandaba, part of Njube and Kelvin South.
