Vusumuzi Dube, Deputy Radar Editor
BULAWAYO councillors last week clashed with the city’s Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube, following his push to overturn an earlier council decision on his contract extension, which would have seen his term of office come to an end this year.
Mr Dube had been granted a two-year extension set to end this year.
However, last week, he wrote to councillors demanding that they rescind the decision and instead implement a new Government directive that raised the retirement age to 70 years, seeking a further five-year extension that will push him to 2030.
Tensions escalated as Mr Dube reportedly bypassed established council procedures by drafting the council report himself rather than routing it through the human capital director, Mr Makhosi Tshalebwa, as required.
Additionally, he refused to recuse himself from the deliberations on his contract extension, contravening council protocol designed to prevent conflicts of interest.
According to a council confidential report, Mr Dube further revealed that he had been forced to also bypass the council committee responsible for human resources matters, the General Purposes
Committee, claiming that the committee had twice failed to convene due to a lack of quorum.
“I wish to clearly make a declaration that I was left with no choice but to bring my report straight to council. The compelling reason, being, following the postponement of the General Purposes Committee that partly dealt with my matter on 22 September 2025, the Special General Purposes Committee meeting has twice failed to sit; on Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 September 2025 at 4pm and 10am respectively, because of a lack of a quorum.
“I understand very well that matters should be dealt with at committee level and then recommended to council for decisions; however, I am now afraid that my matter may end up out of time because we are now two months from the expiry of my contract,” reads the report.
In arguing his case for his contract to be further extended by five years, Mr Dube notes that council has since adopted a Ministerial circular which set the retirement age at 70 from 65.
“It will be recalled that council on 7 February 2024 extended my contract of employment by two years. The second year had a provision that a report be submitted to council to consider my age against the late retirement age of 65 years then, before Government policy extended the retirement age to 70 years.
“When the Council decision was communicated to the Local Government Board for approval, the board engaged the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works and resultantly, the Ministry withdrew the Corporate Governance Policy Framework, which had put in place term limits for Heads of Local Authorities,” reads the report.
“Subsequent to the lifting of term limits, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works issued a circular extending late retirement age of Local Authorities employees from 65 to 70 years. The
Ministry’s Circular on extension of pensionable age, early retirement and mandatory retirement was adopted by council for implementation on 7 May 2025.”
Contacted for comment on the matter, Mr Dube declined to comment.
“Since you know that this issue was discussed during council in-committee, therefore I am not allowed to comment on it,” he said.
The Mayor, Councillor David Coltart, also declined to comment, referring this reporter to the local authority’s corporate communications manager, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, whose mobile phone was not reachable.
Council sources, however, revealed that councillors have opted to seek a legal opinion from their legal advisors before coming up with an official position.
“Councillors have said they cannot proceed without a legal opinion and they have further made it clear that the report should come to them in the proper channel,” said the source.
Commenting on the matter, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works spokesperson, Mr Gabriel Masvora, said they were waiting for the council to communicate with them on the recommendations relating to the contract extension.
“Both the councillors and the Town Clerk know the proper procedure; council has a committee that is responsible for human resources, that committee must get a report from the human resources director, the committee makes recommendations guided by that report, which is then sent to council.
“Council is the one that will then make recommendations, guided by that report; it is that recommendation that will be communicated to us. What is important to note is that it is not the Town Clerk who will communicate with us, but rather the councillors. Further, in all these deliberations, since the Town Clerk is an interested party, he should recuse himself when the matter is being discussed,” said Mr Masvora.
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