BULAWAYO – The swearing-in of Bulawayo councillors exploded in tribal fury on Friday after one of the councillors elected to recite his oath of office in Shona.

Arnold Batirai, the MDC Alliance councillor for Ward 24 in Nketa, first took his oath in English with the rest of the 29 councillors, but then went on to recite the same in his Shona language before Chamber Secretary Sikhangele Zhou and Town Clerk Christopher Dube.

Dozens of residents who had filled the public gallery in the council chambers interjected.

Batirai, who had also arrived late at the event, was accused of being disrespectful.

When Dube ordered the media and residents to leave the chamber for a closed-door session with councillors, angry residents seized the moment and bayed for Batirai’s blood. Some charged towards him and threatened to manhandle him in a scuffle that lasted for nearly 15 minutes. Police had to be called in.

The councillor refused to be intimidated, insisting that it was within his constitutional rights to use a language of his choosing.

Dube and other councillors came to Batirai’s rescue by ordering everyone out of the chambers.

Zhou defended Batirai saying there was nothing wrong with using Shona.

“There is nothing wrong in what one of the councillors did; it’s within his constitutional rights. Our constitution recognises 16 languages so anyone is allowed to use any of those languages,” Zhou said.

The swearing-in ceremony had attracted a lot of interest in the city in recent weeks as local activists declared that they would not tolerate a mayor who is not a “local”, euphemism for “Ndebele”.

Hottest ticket … Bulawayo residents outside an overflowing City Hall where councillors were sworn in

A day before the swearing-in ceremony, WhatsApp messages circulated urging residents to come and defend their “culture and integrity.”

The next flashpoint will be the election of the mayor and his deputy, possibly next week. The two will be elected under the supervision of provincial administrator, Khonzani Ncube.

Tens of people who wanted to attend Friday’s swearing-in were unable to get into the Council Chambers, which proved too small.

Zhou was asked if the council would change the next council meeting to a bigger venue like the Large City Hall, as per residents’ requests.

“It’s unfortunate that we can’t shift from the chambers because that’s our venue where we hold council meetings,” she said.

The MDC Alliance had two candidates in Ward 24. Batirai polled 2,237 votes to beat the other MDC Alliance aspirant Gideon Mangena, who amassed 2,104 votes. Zanu PF’s Justice Bhango came third with 1,752 votes with the MDC-T’s Nomusa Dangah a distant fourth with 433 votes.