No apology for working with central Government: Harare Mayor

Trust Freddy

Herald Correspondent

THE opposition-led Harare City Council has declared it will make “no apology” for working collaboratively with the central government, signalling a new approach focused squarely on improving service delivery for residents.

Speaking at the official handover of 16 service vehicles for the rollout of prepaid water meters at Town House yesterday, Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume said councillors were not elected to engage in perpetual political opposition.

The vehicles—six double-cab and 10 single-cab trucks—were presented by Helcraw Electrical, which is managing the rollout of 600 000 prepaid meters across five cities as part of a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement.

The agreement involves the Government, the City of Harare, Helcraw Electrical, and Hangzhou Liaison Technology Company.

“We make no apology for working with the central government,” Mayor Mafume said.

“When the electorate elected us, it was well aware that a result might come where the city would be held by another party and the central Government would be held by another party. And we were not elected to simply oppose the Government for the sake of it.”

Mayor Mafume also stressed that the mandate given by the voters was a cooperation for the common good.

“We were elected to work together with the Government to deliver service to the people,” he said.

“They understand that, as we campaigned as separate parties, we all promised that we would help the people of Zimbabwe. And that is what we are doing.”

He also called for political unity across all parties, asserting that divisions only serve to hinder service provision.

“We agree that sewage smells as bad to an opposition person. Water tastes as good to a ZANU PF person as it does to a person in the opposition,” Clr Mafume said.

“A road does not ask for your party card before it damages your car. So it must be clear that we have a basic fundamental desire in our different capacities to give service delivery to the people that is seamless, that is standard, and that is the best international practice.”