By Leopold Munhende

MDC President Nelson Chamisa has summoned to Harare, all Bulawayo City councillors following a tribal storm torched by the recent suspension of Town Clerk Christopher Dube by Deputy Mayor Tinashe Kambarami.

This was revealed by party spokesperson Daniel Molokele during a news conference in Harare on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow (Thursday) all the councillors are travelling to meet the national leadership, but we will sit down in a closed meeting and discuss and try to unpack and resolve the issues.

“We want to assure the people of Bulawayo that the MDC is going to do its best to make sure that whatsoever happened last week, which we regret, is fully revolved.

“The MDC is a people’s movement and we want to make sure that the situation in Bulawayo is fully resolved as soon as possible.”

The tiff, which has taken a tribal slant, started after Kambarami served Dube with a suspension letter which the city CEO proceeded to throw in his face before resisting the move.

Kambarami invited fierce backlash from some sections of the Bulawayo community who are questioning how a person of Shona background got to be Councillor in the Ndebele dominated city.

1893 Mthwakazi Restoration Movement Trust, a Bulawayo civic organisation, has since lodged a complaint with the High Court against his election as councillor citing a July 2018 criminal record in which he was convicted for stealing an electric cord from an electrician he had hired at his offices.

The controversial councillor was for some time involved in another stand-off with Chamisa after he won election to Deputy Mayor ahead of party’s preferred Mlandu Dube.

A tribal onslaught has been persistent in the past week as calls grow for the expulsion of Shona speaking leaders.

Other Ndebele dominated provinces, Matabeleland North and South have also been complaining about the recruitment of non-Ndebele speaking teachers to teach their children.