Time to run Harare’s freeloaders out of town

SOME of our people were raised in villages that were nothing more than wretched backwaters to which they were condemned by greedy white settlers who took their fertile land.

Eking out a living from these thoroughly unproductive lands was often a near-impossible task and quest.

In their wisdom, or lack thereof, some thought that having big families through polygamy would provide the required draught power to make the most of their pathetic circumstances.

The logic was simple: More kids meant more hands for the back-breaking workaday village life, where most, if not all, villagers worked twice as much to get half as far.

It also meant more mouths to feed.

It was worse during seasons of crop failure, as families had to fight — sometimes literally — for the little crumbs that were available to keep body and soul together.

Complex family dynamics often resulted in intense competition for attention, resources and affection.

This almost always led to conflict and resentment.

In such circumstances of bristling contestation, families inexorably became war zones, where family and sibling rivalries became the norm rather than the exception.

Oftentimes, the fights became so nasty that newborns were used as convenient billboards to deliver poignant messages to rival families.

Names such as Sekai, Zvidzai, Pedzisai, Dudzai, Takaitei and Dadirai became common in polygamous families. Kikikiki.

Thank God for the gospel, which inspired the decided shift to more benign names like Thandolwenkosi, Anashe, Atipaishe, Anesu, Mutsa (often short for Mutsawashe) and Tanatswa. Kikikiki.

Dogs also caught strays, as they were often flogged in the name of a much-loathed adversary.

In some instances, family feuds took a macabre turn when sorcery and witchcraft were wielded to ensure that no family member, especially half siblings, became successful compared to one’s own.

So, success, other than one’s own, became something to be frowned upon or even resisted.

Those who showed any sign or promise of success unfortunately found themselves in the crosshairs of jealous rivals.

All this had the adverse consequence of creating communities that revelled in misfortune, poverty and general wretchedness.

It also created a community psyche that accepted poverty as a natural and acceptable state of life.

What actually kept the balance in such families and communities was a mutually assured permanent state of inertia and stasis.

Zero-sum game

Sadly, this zero-sum dynamic continues to this day, not least in our politics, where success should carry a political totem and belong to a preferred political tribe.

Our bristling political contestation — particularly since the turn of the millennium, where sponsored foreign agendas that are divorced from our national ethos began contaminating our local politics — has had the polarising and unwanted effect of discounting progress when it is driven by those ostensibly considered to be adversaries and/or rivals.

Where we should be celebrating huge milestones, like the Trabablas Interchage, new roads, record production in agriculture and the resumption of garbage collection in the capital, we find an irritating cynicism.

Where we should be pulling in one direction, we find needless and distracting rancour.

Perhaps the biggest and most damaging consequence of our political feuds has been losing sight of our ultimate vision and goal — to create a modern and prosperous society we are all proud of.

And our division into adversarial political tribes has de-energised our society at a time we are supposed to be determinedly and cohesively moving towards our treasured goal and generational mission.

Unfortunately, we have also ended up with a political culture that prioritises political totem and cadre deployment over merit.

Voting for a party emblem rather than an individual’s capacity and capability — which can only make sense in instances where the sponsoring party is grounded in a strong ideology and driven by a clear strategy — has become deeply entrenched.

Ability, therefore, becomes secondary to sloganeering.

This explains why we have gremlins in some public offices that have succeeded in both destroying and making our institutions dysfunctional.

Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in Local Government, and most especially in the City of Harare, which has degenerated into an embarrassing eyesore and cesspool.

Thanks to President ED, who launched an inquiry into the affairs on the capital since 2017, we now have an idea of the extent to which the city was mismanaged.

“It is the ratepayers of Harare that wanted to say something; we merely provided them with the platform . . . We compiled the report . . . There were too many dirty hands in the cookie jar; they are still there,” Justice Maphios Cheda, who led the Commission of Inquiry, revealed soon after handing over the report to the President on Tuesday.

Rebuilding to city

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to surmise how damning that report is.

Nor do you need to be a prophet to figure out how ED is likely to react.

In Revelations 3:15-16, the Lord says: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Now that we have confirmed that the breed of councillors who have been running the capital over the past two decades were — and still are — nothing more than little priests and priestesses of corruption, there is no doubt that the next logistical step is to run them out of town.

Notwithstanding the Central Government’s interventions over the past few years to repair some of the city’s major roads, construct a modern interchange and erect the Mbuya Nehanda statue, the City of Harare has done absolutely nothing to change or modernise the cityscape.

Is it so much to ask for refurbished and well-marked roads that are complemented by modern and working traffic lights?

Is it too much to ask for functional streetlights in the central business district?

Is it too much to ask for the maintenance of recreational parks and urban spaces in and around the capital?

Is it too much to ask for running taps and potable water?

And is it too much to ask for routine collection and clearance of garbage?

We need not squander the moment; we will not squander the moment.

It is well past time for us to put Harare under the stewardship of professional, competent and capable administrators who can ably create a city of the future.

Our bylaws need to be reviewed to bring them in line with new realities and our aspirations. The spirit of community-hood also needs to be rekindled for ratepayers to play their part in rehabilitating communities.

It can happen, and it will happen.

The President has already shown his appetite to reform the capital in line with the modern city that he envisions.

This is it!

Bishop out!