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Innocent Ruwende Senior Reporter
The Harare City Council is next week set to carry out interviews for the position of town clerk, which the city has failed to fill for 30 months owing to various reasons. The latest attempt has seen a consultant going through over 127 applications, with only 11 candidates having been shortlisted for the coveted position.

The post fell vacant in 2014 following the retirement of Dr Tendai Mahachi.
Two previous attempts to fill the post were inconclusive as Government and the Local Government Board blocked the appointments citing procedural and other irregularities.

Although Harare Mayor Councillor Bernard Manyenyeni refused to comment on the matter, preferring to say the interviews will be carried out “soon”, sources close to the proceedings told The Herald that the interviews will be conducted next week.

“There is a lot of secrecy as to the shortlisted candidates, but we understand it will be a different list from those shortlisted in previous attempts,” said the source.

Last week, Clr Manyenyeni refused to divulge details on the shortlisted candidates.
In March, Harare resolved to readvertise the town clerk’s post, after its three shortlisted candidates were rejected by the Local Government Board for various reasons.

Clr Manyenyeni argued that the succession issue had been very disruptive as it had taken deep political dimensions, personal overtones and vindictive treatment of issues since it started.

In 2016, council appointed former banker Mr James Mushore to the post of town clerk, but just a few hours after council announced his appointment, Government rescinded the decision because the local authority had flouted procedures of appointment as laid out in the Urban Councils Act.

Council then conducted fresh interviews, where top MDC-T official and former Cabinet Minister Dr Tapiwa Mashakada came out tops, but the Local Government Board did not approve of the three shortlisted candidates.