Harare residents present their grievances to parliament

By Violet Gonda
19 February 2010

On Friday Harare residents and other stakeholders made submissions on the appalling service delivery in the capital city, to the Parliament Committee on Local Government, Rural and Urban Development. The Committee was conducting public hearings on service delivery, water and roads.

Precious Shumba, the coordinator of the Harare Residents' Trust, told SW Radio Africa the major concerns for the residents included the poor performance of elected councillors and the meddling of the Minister of Local Government Ignatius Chombo.

He pointed out: “The powers of the Local Government Minister are excessive and he meddles in the running of these Councils to the extent that councillors and the Mayor have been rendered powerless, yet Heads of Department and the Town Clerk have become so protected by the Minister.”

The residents accuse Chombo of abusing his ministerial powers to block council resolutions. Shumba said the City Council resolved last year to suspend the Town Clerk, Michael Mahachi, on allegations of corruption but that the Minister intervened and blocked the suspension.

Service delivery in Harare, like the rest of the country, is extremely poor but residents are still being charged high bills. Refuse remains uncollected and water and power cuts continue. “They prioritise high salaries and purchase top of the range vehicles for heads of departments, while neglecting the needs of the residents,” Shumba said.

He said the Parliamentary Committee will deliberate on the submissions and will call Chombo in to respond, due to the overwhelming demand from people to rein in the minister.

Shumba said Councillor Herbert Gomba from Ward 27 Glen Norah tried to use the excuse that the city council was bankrupt, but that he failed dismally to respond to the issue of service delivery.

The residents want the local government to be part of the constitution and not an act of parliament. They also want local authorities to be decentralised, to ensure that resources are equally distributed and they want to work with their elected representatives and service providers on a non-partisan basis.

In their submission to parliament residents said: “The City of Harare should prioritise service provision, refuse collection, water and sewer infrastructure rehabilitation, purchase of maintenance of refuse trucks and charge affordable rates before allocating more resources towards huge salary perks to heads of departments and administration.”