HARARE – Jacob Mafume was elected as the new mayor of Harare on Thursday, as the MDC Alliance survived political manouvres by the rival MDC-T party to seize control of the capital.
Mafume polled 19 votes to defeat Luckson Mukunguma with 14.
Harare has a 46-member council currently controlled by the MDC Alliance which took 45 seats at the last election in July 2018. Zanu PF won one seat.
The Supreme Court in March this year declared that the MDC Alliance was a loose coalition of parties, including the MDC-T which was led by Nelson Chamisa. The court said Chamisa broke the MDC-T constitution to take control of the party in February 2018, and restored Thokozani Khupe as interim leader.
Khupe, who took part in the last elections in 2018 as leader of the MDC-T party, has used the court ruling to claim leadership of over 100 MDC MPs and Senators as well as councillors countrywide. Those who have rejected her leadership are being recalled, a situation which the MDC Alliance says is a “political absurdity.”
Mukunguma was being sponsored by Khupe’s MDC-T which attempted to clear his path to victory by recalling 10 MDC Alliance councillors, including the former mayor Herbert Gomba, before Thursday’s vote.
Khupe also appears to have sufficiently intimidated the 14 councillors who backed Mukunguma.
Mafume is insulated from a possible recall because – if the logic applied by the Khupe camp is used – he joined the MDC Alliance coalition as a member of the People’s Democratic Party formerly led by Tendai Biti.
The MDC Alliance controls most urban councils, and hundreds of councillors are being forced to choose between supporting Khupe and a recall.
Khupe has already recalled 24 MDC Alliance lawmakers, while moving to fill the proportional representation seats with her lieutenants. She has also entered Parliament through that route.
