MIDWEEK REPORTER
BULAWAYO- Bulawayo City Mayor, David Coltart has vowed not to follow Chamisa who ditched the two year old CCC party recently.
Coltart said he remains loyal to Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti and Chamisa, but will not follow the youthful charismatic leader by stepping down from CCC as he still has unfinished business in Bulawayo.
Coltart’s decision to remain in office comes amid a spate of resignations from Parliament by legislators loyal to Chamisa.
Chamisa left the CCC party last month after the self-imposed interim secretary general, Sengezo Tshabangu recalled a large number of legislators and councillors, a development that triggered countrywide by-elections conducted in December 2023 and this past weekend.
In a statement this Monday, Coltart said his decision to stay put comes after wide consultations from a cross section of people.
“During this past week i have received numerous responses on X, Whatsapp and e-mail. The overwhelming response, particularly from the Bulawayo public, has been to remain in office.
“I have also been written to by people i deeply respect, some of whom have been involved in the struggle to bring democracy and freedom to Zimbabwe for over 6 decades, asking me not to resign,” said Coltart.
He mentioned his quest to bring milestone developments to the City of Queens and Kings as among the reasons behind his decision to remain in office.
“Bulawayo faces unique challenges at the present time. Aside from being in a disastrous state after decades of neglect, it is running out of water and faces severe water shortages this coming year. Whilst of course there is little that i as one person can do to remedy this, i have been involved in critically important initiatives during the last few months to provide short, medium and long term solutions to the crisis,” Coltart said.
He added that if he resigned, some of the ambitious initiatives under his belt would not come to fruition.
“If I were to resign now some of these initiatives may be undermined to the detriment of the City as whole. Whilst the resignation of any MP (Member of Parliament) is of course tragic and a great loss to debate in Parliament, it does not have the same direct impact on citizens as would the resignation of the Mayor of a City.”
“The point is that a decision not to resign as Mayor of Bulawayo should not be interpreted as a hostile act against Nelson Chamisa, I stand with him against this brazen attempt by the regime to create a one party state,” he added.
Some CCC supporters and neutral observers quickly labeled those who won parliamentary and council seats under the CCC banner as traitors if they do not resign in protest of recalls of their colleagues in the opposition ranks.
However, others are saying all councillors and MPs should resign from CCC and wait for recalls by Tshabangu if he decides to take that route.
