Suspended Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has threatened to file a lawsuit against state broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), for alleging that he is “on the run”.
In a story published yesterday on the broadcaster’s news site and shared on Twitter, ZBC alleged that despite being suspended, Mafume was interfering with the operations of the Harare City Council, including ordering the Town Clerk not to subscribe to the performance-based contract signed on Monday.
Mafume responded to the story threatening to sue ZBC if they do not correct the story which he said was defamatory.
“This is defamatory, where are you getting this? I was at [Harare Magistrates Court] the whole day in Court 15 at Rotten Row. I will instruct my lawyers accordingly if this is not corrected. Consider yourself notified of my intention to sue!”
ZBC reported that the information it gathered indicated that after Mafume had caused chaos by storming council, he then fled and is nowhere to be found.
Jacob Mafume was suspended by the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, July Moyo, in December 2021 for the fourth time for “committing gross acts of misconduct and high levels of incompetence”.
This was just two weeks after Mafume, who was then the MDC Alliance secretary for local government, returned to work after the expiry of his third suspension.
Minister Moyo set up an independent tribunal this week to investigate the suspended Harare Mayor.
