BULAWAYO mayor David Coltart has denied storming out of a heated discussion on the extension of town clerk Christopher Dube’s term of office.
There are reports that Dube received a one-year contract extension until November 2026, with a prior unanimous council vote to extend his term until 2030.
However, there are indications that the extension is pending guidance from the Attorney-General’s Office regarding a statutory instrument that raised the retirement age to 70.
This has, however, caused significant political friction within City Hall.
In a statement, Coltart said clause 34 of the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) standing orders stated that the mayor or chairperson may quit and announce an adjournment if disorder arises, and by that announcement, the meeting will be adjourned.
“My act in quitting the chair and adjourning the meeting was, therefore, lawful,” Coltart said.
“In terms of clause 44 of the BCC Standing Orders as read with the Urban Council’s Act, notices of all meetings have to be issued formally and no notice was issued for the subsequent meeting, which was unlawful.”
He said council was advised of threats against at least two members of the management team, adding that irregular leaking of confidential council documents to the media appeared to reflect the factual position on the ground.
- Benzema confident Real will reach UCL final
- Fresh row over city parking fees
- Council acts tough on debts
- Fresh row over city parking fees
Keep Reading
“The ‘resolution’ purportedly passed in the second ‘meeting’ held on November 5 is illegal and of no force and effect. As a result, as things stand, there is no binding resolution at present extending the town clerk’s contract,” Coltart said.
He said the general purposes committee, which he chairs, remained committed to finding a lawful and rational resolution to the impasse.
“Indeed, the current situation, where the pursuit of personal interests is crowding out attention being given to the serious challenges facing the city, is shameful and must immediately end in the best interests of the people we serve,” Coltart said.
He said Dube’s existing contract, dated October 10, 2024, signed by him and the town clerk, was a “fixed one-year-two-months contract commencing on October 1, 2024 and terminating on November 30, 2025”.
“In other words, it is a fixed-term contract. On September 22, at a meeting of the BCC general purposes committee (which is the committee comprising the chairs of all BCC’s other committees), the human capital director brought a resolution which sought to extend the town clerk’s contract until he reached the age of 70 years,” he said.
“The resolution was premised on a letter written by the Minister of Local Government (Daniel) Garwe, dated April 7, 2025, which, in turn, was premised on the passage of Statutory Instrument) 197 of 2024 (which extends the mandatory retirement age in the Public Service from 65 to 70).
“At that meeting, concern was raised whether SI 197/2024 applies to people on fixed-term contracts. The concern was that if a precedent was set, then employees, for example, aged 30, on fixed-term contracts could then demand employment until reaching the age of 70, placing a massive un-budgeted financial strain on organisations such as BCC.”
He said the matter was deferred for consideration, adding that a subsequent meeting of the general purposes committee was called for September 29 to pass a resolution referring the legal question of whether SI 197/2024 applies to fixed-term contracts to the BCC lawyers.
“In the run-up to this meeting, several members of the general purposes committee were threatened by third parties not to attend and when the meeting convened, only I, the deputy mayor, the human capital director and the town clerk were present.
“A quorum could not be obtained and the meeting was postponed to 10am on September 30. When the meeting reconvened, a quorum could not be obtained, with only the same people listed above in attendance.
“In this meeting, the town clerk threatened me in the presence of the human resources director and the deputy mayor. The town clerk has since apologised in writing to me for losing his temper.”
He said the inability to meet led to the inability to bring the proposed resolution to the full council meeting on October 1.
“At that meeting, the town clerk his own written recommendation that his contract be extended to the retirement age of 70.
“A completely disorderly debate ensue brought d with slanderous comments and threats being exchanged among councillors. Given that it was impossible to have a free and fair debate or vote, I adjourned the meeting without any resolution being legally passed,” he said.
Coltart said given the serious divisions in council, especially between Dube and several senior members of management, he met with Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Judith Ncube on October 6 to explain the situation and request her intervention.
“Subsequently, on October 9, I was invited to a meeting attended by minister Garwe, which was also attended by the town clerk. In this meeting, I explained to minister Garwe my concerns about the application of SI 197/2024 to fixed-term contracts and the dangers of a precedent being set.
“Minister Garwe acknowledged my concerns and, in the meeting, stated that a precedent could have ‘much wider implications for the civil service’. The minister then recommended that we seek an opinion from the Civil Division of the Attorney-General’s Office.”
