adminFor starters – 2011 has proved to be a very difficult year for Harare ratepayers. Refuse collection was at its lowest precisely because the city failed to procure enough vehicles to do one of the core service delivery mandates.
Officials at Town House only got a wake up call when President Mugabe complained about the mounds of garbage in the suburbs. Instead of addressing the matter officials for a while went on a witch hunt targeting the waste management director – yet the issue remained that the department was poorly resourced. Residents received inflated bills which officials failed to explain with those not receiving water still getting billed for non existent services.
Water provision remained depressed – again because the city together with Government have jointly failed to add new water sources. The result was the continued dry spells in the northern suburbs and some eastern residential areas.
The city’s roads did not improve with potholes and blocked drains becoming permanent features on Harare’s road network. Traffic lights were not in good working order for the greater part of the year with motorists enduring driving nightmares each time they encountered robot controlled intersections.
Poor traffic control and lack of desire to control the traffic menace further dented the city’s record in 2011. But to their credit councillors spoke about the issue and made resolutions ordering officials to implement corrective measures. The problem of streets children and homeless stuck with the city as no tangible moves were made to reintegrate street children with their families.
The number of unemployed youths remained significantly high which answers the incidences of political violence in Harare. The youths remained susceptible to adults with cash who could entice them with drinks to involve in acts of violence.
The city failed to create jobs. It should be the city’s responsibility to run the Harare economy – by creating jobs. There are so many areas the city can employ its young population such as the scooping of sand in silted rivers, maintaining the city’s parks, working on the roads, clearing storm drains. Ratepayers remained stuck with a poor showing by councillors. Having attended the majority of 2011’s full council meetings – this reporter was left wondering whose interests the councillors represented.
Less than 10 percent of the sitting councillors spoke on behalf of their own wards. The situation would have been different had the councillors stood in the council chambers during full council meetings to for example speak on behalf of the people in ward 30 Glen View, Ward 37 Kuwadzana and Ward 5 Belvedere.
The elected councillor to a greater extend behaved like special interest councillors who represent the whole of Harare. At one time councillors were gloves off fighting special interest councillor Martens when the late Clr Ruth Kavhunika complained that he was encroaching on to her area.
Instead of them allowing the late Clr Kavhunika to fight her own ward wars the whole house joined in and as fate would have, none of them spoke of what people in their wards were saying about service delivery.
Then, came the issue of Ballantyne Park that pitted prominent Harare businessman Philip Chiyangwa and residents of the respective ward.
Clr Peter Mudavanhu who represents the wards duly spoke on behalf of his warders but to the surprise of onlookers – the war became the responsibility of all councillors. This is not to say councillors should not fight for each other but this is to say each councillor should stand for the interests of people in their respective wards.
Clr Mudavanhu could have been a good mobiliser to get all his peers to support his cause. Recently special interest councillor Charles Nyachowe raised what could have a been a key service delivery issue for all councillors to embrace but unfortunately his colleagues saw differently.
Clr Nyachowe raised the issue of water delivery in Harare and accused Mr Masunda of paying lip service to the matter. He wanted water delivery to be made an agenda item that the whole council would discuss but his colleagues’ thought he was out to get Mayor Masunda.
Clr Munyaradzi Kufahakutizwi chose to fight in Mr Masunda’s corner in dismissing Clr Nyachowe’s concerns. Such is the leadership at Town House where councillors fail to discuss key service delivery issues simply because they want to curry favour with certain individuals. Clr Kufahakutizwi represents a ward that is perennially dry – a ward that needed the sort of interventions Clr Nyachowe wanted to bring to the fore.
For the whole year – councillors discussed the agenda brought by officials at committees and in full council. In reality the councillors spent the year rubber stamping or arguing on the agenda of officials.
Councillors should represent the interests of the people that elected them into office. Issues of refuse collection, water delivery, street lighting are among issues that councillors should make noise on.
There was also the issue of ill bahaviour by councillors with a good number of them fired from council for errant bahaviour. The relationship between functionaries and councillors remained frosty with councillors taking direct shots at directors and town clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi during full council meetings.
Councillors complained of failure to implement council resolutions and the failure by officials to advise them correctly on which resolutions could be put into practice and those that could not be implemented.
On a positive councillors’ dressing impr-oved greatly this year with all councillors exuding confidence in elegant designer suits. Mr Masunda often made light of his subordinates dressing sometimes remi-nding others that their three piece suits were against the weather on certain days.
Clrs Wellington Cikombo and Friday Muleya were adjudged the best dressed councillors for 2011.
Some of the councillors went back to school maybe in response to insults by Mr Masunda that some of the councillors were mediocre. Generally the social standing of the city fathers improved in 2011 with those that previously did not drive managing to join the elite club of suave drivers.
Maybe councillors and officials should take a cue from what deputy mayor Clr Emmanuel Chiroto said at the last full council meeting.
Said Clr Chiroto: “Next year we should change the way we do business. We have been on a learning curve. The learning curve has come to an end”.
Clr Chiroto said council should look for outside help to assist dispose of litter.
Such admissions at the city’s highest level should help make conclusions of the council’s performance.
Online Reporter