VICTORIA FALLS – Councillors in Victoria Falls failed to elect a mayor and deputy mayor on Wednesday amid claims of imposition of candidates.

The Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance party secured all 11 seats in the municipality.

Wednesday was the date for the swearing-in and selection of the mayor and deputy by the councillors, but the process ended abruptly.

The party leadership had dispatched Farai Chinobva, who is director for mobilisation, to direct councillors to vote for Ward 1 councillor Margaret Valley who is the leaderships’ preferred choice for mayor.

Somvelo Dlamini, the councillor for Ward 9, was however nominated by some councillors to be mayor and Patricia Mwale as deputy.

Dlamini was nominated for both mayor and deputy mayor which prompted presiding officer Simon Muleya, who is the Hwange District Administrator, to ask him to choose one of the two posts before voting could begin

Dlamini initially asked for a 10-minute break saying he needed to consult with other councillors but Muleya would not agree.

Dlamini then opted to contest as deputy mayor much to the anger of his supporters in the gallery who started mumbling that Chinobva, who was making some hand gestures, was unduly influencing the process.

Councillors requested to go out of the boardroom to caucus when Muleya insisted they were supposed to vote for the mayor, despite the fact that Valley was now uncontested.

Muleya told the councillors that by going out they would have nullified the election process.

Some of the residents started shouting that they did not want Valley to be mayor, and would block her election.

The DA then called off the election indefinitely citing security reasons and some of the residents started chanting songs denouncing the process.

“Can we then call it off for another day?” Muleya said to the councillors.

There was chaos outside the boardroom as the crowd which had grown bigger bayed for Chinobva’s head. He immediately left fearing for his life.

The chairman of the Victoria Falls Residents Association Morgen Dube said: “The positive thing is that people have made a statement that as residents of Victoria Falls they cannot fail to make a decision. They voted for their councillors and suddenly somebody from Harare comes and gives instructions in the boardroom which is a clear sign he was instructed by the party.”

Town Clerk, Ronnie Dube, who presided over the swearing in of the 11 councillors earlier, said a decision on the way forward will be made soon.

Bulawayo City Council also postponed its selection of mayor and deputy to Friday citing “security fears” after residents protested against the MDC Alliance’s preferred choices.