Denford Ngadziore

School / Education

Studied at University of Zimbabwe.

No other information could be found on his Junior or High School, or any tertiary education.

Events

A demonstration at Town House in November 2016, did not begin as scheduled as riot police early-camped there waiting to pounce on their easy prey. Residents Forum and CCDZ had stormed Town House in protest demanding immediate answers and expulsion of Acting Town Clerk Josephine Ncube and top management following alleged corruption scandals. Police arrested Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (CCDZ) Advocacy Officer George Makoni despite Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni having given the disgruntled residents the go ahead to air their grievances. Makoni was later released and ordered to pay $10 fine after police charged him for criminal nuisance.
CCDZ said “We are not happy with corruption taking place here at town house, as you have heard the top management are being awarded hefty salaries while their subordinates are not getting nothing we have water challenges, waste is not being collected so on behalf of and other organisations we are saying this must come to an end”
Denford Ngadziore who was representing Residents Forum called for the immediate expulsion of Acting Town Clerk Josephine Ncube. Ngadziore also revealed that Residents Forum and other organisations had already approached the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to investigate corruption at town House.
CoH also awarded a tender of US$13.8m to an unregistered company for the rehabilitation of Firle Sewerage Works which was further presided over by unqualified councillors, an audit report tabled before a special council meeting revealed. ^[1]

2018 – elected to Ward 16 Harare Municipality with 8574 votes, beating Spencer Mackenzie Mabeka of Zanu PF with 2831 votes, Peter Clever Manjoro, independent with 2322 votes, Jerifanos Dhemba of MDC-T with 1343 votes, Grace Nayasha Magumisa, independent with 691 votes, Memory Darikwa, independent with 454 votes, Angeline Dhliwayo of UDA with 118 votes and Welcome Tope of UANC with 35 votes. ^[2]

In a newspaper story on Denford Ngadziore, printed September 2018, his journey from activist to city Councillor is reviewed. He has been arrested more than 14 times for leading demonstrations, ten times MDC protests and four for leading the Tajamuka and civic society protests, since he started protesting in 2001.
He lost in his bid to represent Ward 16 in 2013, but was elected in 2018. As a councillor, the main focus is on service delivery. We cannot blame central government for everything, there are some things we can do. He is nicknamed Madhuku because of his resemblance to Lovemore Madhuku. ^[3]

Denford Ngadziore, appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Court in February 2019 on allegations of inciting last month’s public violence, represented by Tinomudaishe Shoko, of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, before magistrate Victoria Mashamba. He pleaded not guilty, but the first witness, Talent Chikanya, told the court that he saw Ngadziore inciting people to block the road in Snake Park and Glen Norah C in Harare on January 14. Under cross-examination, Chikanya failed to explain why he made different statements to the police and in court. Another State witness, Tinashe Chibaya told court that he did not know why Ngadziore was in court. He told court that the accused person addressed them as MDC youths not to go to work on the day.
Allegations are that on 10 January Ngadziore proceeded to Glen Norah C, where he called for a meeting and allegedly urged the gathering that there will be demonstration on 14 January and all roads should be barricaded so that there will be no movement of traffic. Then on 13 January, Ngadziore drove a white Mazda 626, visited several places in Harare, including Snake Park, Glen Norah, Budiriro, Kuwadzana to engage in acts of public violence. On 14 January, he proceeded to Glen Norah C, where he met some MDC youths and gave them money to buy beer so that they participate in the demonstrations. The demonstrators allegedly heeded Ngadziore’s call and engaged in acts of violence in which several properties, including police vehicles, private vehicles and public transport were burnt and various shops looted. Detectives then received information that Ngadziore was at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport intending to board a flight to South Africa. A follow up was made, leading to his arrest. Idah Maromo appeared for the State. ^[4]

During debate on the water situation in Harare, in July 2019, Denford Ngadziore said the Harare City Council should remove the dedicated water supply line to State House as the residence has back up systems (boreholes and other means to get water) compared to other areas. We should divert that water to areas in need and not to areas where they have boreholes and other means. Such as Sentosa that has no water and the acting director saying he wants to ensure that every household gets water at least once a week. Acting Harare water director Phakamile Mabhena Moyo said it was impossible to disconnect State House from the dedicated water supply line because the system was integrated.
Harare has been forced to decommission Prince Edward Waterworks because it can no longer draw water from Seke and Harava dams which usually contribute 70 mega litres of water a day, of which 30 mega litres were dedicated to Chitungwiza and the remaining 40 mega litres supplying Mbare, Sunningdale and surrounding areas. Morton Jaffray Treatment Works, which has a capacity of 604 mega litres a day, is only pumping 250 to 300 mega litres a day, against a daily requirement of about 1 200 mega litres. ^[5]

In October 2019, Makomborero Haruzivishe and Denford Ngadziore were arrested by police at the Harare Magistrate Courts, for disorderly conduct. They were part a small crowd that protested outside Rotten Row Magistrate’s Court over the arrest of eleven vendors. Only ten were apperaing for initial remand, as one Hilton Tamangani died in custody allegedly from torture at the hands of police. ^[6]

In February 2020, questions on CoH’s uncollected rubbish were reported on. Piles of uncollected garbage have become common, even in the CBD. Residents have resorted to dumping loads of rubbish in any nearby open space. This would indicate that “Vision 2025” is not working and Harare will never become a world-class city by then.
What are the challenges?

• Lackadaisical approach to duty by the workers, said Environmental management committee chairperson, Councillor Kudzai Kanzombe.
• Theft of council truck parts and exchanging old ones for new ones. The committee toured Highfield, Kopje, Mugombe automobile workshops and Nenyere workshop, where they encountered compactors that were down for simple things such as ATF oil, batteries and springs. We made a resolution to have our waste management fleet repaired and increased from the 22 that we had to 46. We later noticed that with all the financial resources we were investing in the fleet it was actually decreasing.” Council should have 46 running trucks at any given time to service all the 46 wards in Harare. There was a tender that was awarded for CCTV two years ago to minimise the thefts but until now there has been no delivery.
• No fuel. CoH sponsors Harare City FC in the premier league and another Division One team plus an academy. Councillor Denford Ngadziore stated, “We have never heard that the soccer team has failed to attend any match outside Harare because there is no fuel but we always here that refuse is not being collected because there is no fuel. What are our priorities as a city and what should be our priorities under the circumstances,”
• Pay. The local authority are often short on paying their workers on time, thus opening up avenues for looting and corruption for them to survive.

^[7]

In March 2020, Denford Ngadziore was arrested at Mbare Magistrates Court (where he was to answer charges of participating in a demonstration that took place at Rotten Row court in September 2019), for participating in a demonstration held in Harare CBD in February 2020. He will be represented by Jeremiah Bamu of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. ^[8]