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Blessings Chidakwa
Zimpapers Elections Desk
CCC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa has vindicated President Mnangagwa’s decision to direct central Government agencies to take over service delivery from the ineffectual Harare City Council after admitting this week that some councillors from his party are corrupt and are suitable candidates to rot in jail.
Mr Chamisa’s remarks while addressing CCC supporters at Gadzema grounds in Chinhoyi on Monday came on the same day the President officially declared a “state of disaster” in Harare amid cries of poor service delivery from ratepayers who have been let down by councillors from the opposition party.
The CCC-led capital city is now characterised by dry taps, uncollected garbage, potholed roads and burst sewer pipes while councillors are amassing wealth through corrupt activities.
CCC councillors are also reported to be milking the local authority dry by organising endless workshops and trips on a weekly basis to get allowances while service delivery is virtually no-existent.
Mr Chamisa who ironically promised to tackle corruption actually said it was a thorn in the flesh in his backyard.
“I know we have some councillors from the party who are corrupt. You are perfect candidates for Chikurubi and I wouldn’t want to lie to you, I shall descend on you,” he said.
During his address Mr Chamisa also spent the better part of his time promising things that had already been delivered under the Second Republic including decentralisation of registry offices.
Our publication recently exposed that CCC-led councillors are allegedly looting council coffers through the conduit of holding workshops, with each of them having a target of fundraising US$5 000 as a war chest for the August 23, harmonised elections.
Harare has been among those leading the pack, with the CCC councillors who were dropped during the party’s election candidate selection process now looting funds through sale of residential, commercial and industrial stands as their “last supper”.
Confidential documents showed that the councillors have been organising at least a minimum of three workshops per week outside Harare to siphon money, including when they sent a huge delegation to the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo, with almost all councillors, including their wives or girlfriends.
The report further highlighted that the strategies to loot funds through workshops are well thought out in such a way that councillors are being given funds by council to book in top-class hotels, (meals included), but end up getting accommodation at cheaper lodges and pocketing the remainder of the money.
They prejudiced the local authority of huge sums of money.
The near collapse of garbage removal in the four Harare Metropolitan councils caused President Mnangagwa to declare a “state of disaster”.
The declaration was published in terms of the Civil Protection Act under Statutory Instrument 140 of 2023 cited as the Civil Protection (Declaration of State of Disaster: Emergency Solid Waste Management Harare Metropolitan Province) Notice, 2023.
According to SI 140, Government “noted with great concern the deplorable state of cleanliness of the Harare Metropolitan Province, characterised among other things by litter and waste dumps accumulating in business and residential areas of the province, open burning of garbage and indiscriminate illegal dumping of solid waste and littering.
The declaration overtakes the legal municipal independence for local services enjoyed by Harare and Chitungwiza, and the near independence by Epworth and Ruwa local boards, and thus allows the central Government to move in.
A similar declaration allowed the central Government to move in a while ago and take over road reconstruction and maintenance, again normally a pure local government function if the local authorities are even modestly efficient.
For the rubbish, the Environmental Management Agency was designated as the lead central government agency to co-ordinate and enforce efficient rubbish removal.
Online Reporter