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Talent Gore
HARARE residents should brace for delays in garbage collection as the local authority’s fleet is grounded owing to fuel shortages, a full council meeting heard recently.
While the City Council generates revenue through rates collected from the residents in local currency it is struggling to procure fuel, which is purchased in United States dollars.
Harare Mayor, Jacob Mafume, said Council was failing to buy fuel because some of its suppliers, who were accepting the ZiG, no longer take the local currency.
“We have two-pronged problems, one of the problems is that we were all along, when the ZiG and the US were close to each other, getting fuel easier because some of our suppliers were agreeing to be paid in ZiG and then we were mixing it, paying some in USD, some in ZiG,” he said.
“Then these suppliers fell off one by one, until a few weeks ago, the only supplier who was agreeing to give us fuel in ZiG completely fell off.
“Now, we then made a beeline to Petrotrade, as one of the authorised dealers by the Government to give us fuel, after I had been informed of the challenges.
“I did call the Permanent Secretary and the chief executive of Petrotrade to say that we needed also to get ZiG fuel because we do two functions that are of national impact; refuse collection and water and sewer and that we needed to be on the list of people who get ZiG fuel.” Acting Town Clerk Godfrey Kusangaya told the meeting that it might not be fuel alone hampering waste management.
“I think it’s the capacity, on average we have 15, 16 trucks every week and I think that’s compounding the problem,” he said.
“So, what we need to do is look holistically at the situation at waste management, increase the fleet and improve on the supply of fuel.
“But, recently, I think there’s been an improvement in the supply of fuel.”
Councillors challenged the City Council to put its priorities in order with Denford Ngadziore castigating the senior officials of self-aggrandisement at the expense of service delivery.
“We have one challenge and that is priorities. I have never seen one official from the Town Clerk, a director who says I do not have fuel.
“Their allocation is always available. Fuel to do with service delivery should be high on the priority lists with officials down the ladder,” said Ngadziore.
Online Reporter