Bulawayo Council Defends Decision to Pause ZACC Integrity Pledge Signing

Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart has explained why councillors chose not to immediately sign the Integrity Pledges presented by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), saying the move was based on the need for proper understanding and consultation.

The pledges were meant to be signed by leadership from the City of Bulawayo, Gwanda Municipality and Plumtree Town Council, including mayors, chairpersons, councillors, town clerks and senior officials.

However, when the documents were presented to Bulawayo councillors, they declined to sign them on the spot. Instead, they requested that a workshop be held first so they could fully understand what the pledge involved. The councillors then met privately to discuss the matter further.

Speaking after a caucus meeting held on Monday, Mayor Coltart said councillors were taken by surprise. He explained that the invitation to ZACC had been sent by City Management and only reached him late last week.

He said City Management only received confirmation from ZACC on Thursday, and he himself was informed on Friday.

According to Coltart, the original request was for training aimed at management and the council’s ethics committee, not for the immediate signing of any legal or binding document.

He stressed that neither he nor the councillors had enough time to read and assess the pledge before being asked to sign it.

“As lawyers often say, you must be careful about what you sign,” Coltart explained. “Councillors do not want to put their signatures on something they have not had time to read carefully and understand in a calm environment.”

He added that councillors also want to complete training by their own ethics committee first. That training is expected to run until Wednesday, after which councillors will sit down and discuss what was covered and what the pledge truly means.

Coltart made it clear that the delay should not be seen as resistance to ethical leadership or anti-corruption efforts.
He said the council remains fully committed to ethical governance and supports ZACC’s work.

To explain their caution, Coltart compared rushing to sign the pledge to entering a marriage without understanding the responsibilities involved, saying such an approach would be careless and superficial.