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| Most towns and cities are grappling under water shortages |
Clayton Shereni
Local
authorities in Zimbabwe have in recent years made the headlines for all the
wrong reasons chief among them being massive looting, corruption and
politicking at the expense of service delivery.
Rural
and urban councils are made up of management and councillors who, in an ideal
setting, work hand in glove so as to serve the interests of residents.
In
town and cities, the offices of the town secretary and town clerk are the most
senior posts in the management side of urban councils. Theoretically, these
posts are filled by appointment based on merit after due job applications and
interviews have been done but this has often been abused by the Minister of
Local Government to push for politically expedient appointments.
On
the side of councillors, the town chairperson and mayor are the most
significant posts in an urban setting and those posts are filled by internal
voting processes involving the elected councillors themselves.
In
Rural District Councils (RDC) the council chairperson is the equivalent of a
mayor or town chairperson in an urban council while the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) is the equivalent of a town secretary or town clerk.
These
local governance structures, despite giving clear authority delineations and
providing for separation of powers to ensure checks and balances, have often
failed to yield the intended effect; with councillors and managers colluding to
steal public resources to the detriment of service delivery.
In
Masvingo the Mucheke trunk sewer project stalled midway and has failed to
resume some seven years after its scheduled completion.
The
trenches dug are now a danger to the environment while the big asbestos pipes
that were scattered along the course of the trenches are going to waste.
Similarly,
the second phase of water augmentation project is nowhere near commencement at
a time when the city is growing fast while water supplies are getting more
erratic.
In
what seems a clear case of misplaced priorities, Masvingo City Council recently
flighted a tender for six ‘operations’ vehicles with a budget of US$120 000.
Some residents feel the vehicles are just but another extravagant bonanza for
senior and middle-ranking council employees.
This
is despite the fact that the city is in a precarious position financially, with
the city having to do with only two refuse trucks that often breakdown leading
to intermittent failure to collect garbage on time.
Mayor
Collen Maboke told TellZIm News that inflation affected council’s ability to
implement such capital projects as Mucheke Trunk Sewer which are critical for
optimum service delivery.
“Coupled
with Covid-19, inflation has greatly affected us especially on the budget so we
didn’t meet some of our targets. Some residents didn’t pay for services so
raising the money was difficult. We ended up channeling some of the money we
got from government to other pressing issues like workers’ salaries so we had
to delay resumption of such projects as Mucheke Trunk Sewer which we had wanted
to resume this year,” said Maboke.
However,
many residents are convinced that service delivery shortcomings are not merely
a result of a difficult economy, but a combination of mismanagement and
corruption too.
Masvingo
United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (Murra) spokesperson, Godfrey Mtimba
misplaced priorities and shoddy dealings were also factors in poor service
delivery.
“Although
the poorly-performing economy is an impediment to quality service delivery;
corruption, poor management and misplaced priorities are also key factors.
“There
are good grounds to suspect corruption in tendering processes and we hear about
clandestine land deals. Successive council administrations have also failed to
invest in water infrastructure since independence. Roads are in bad shape and
so is sewer reticulation,” said Mtimba.
In
February this year, the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) petitioned City of
Masvingo over poor service delivery which affects mostly women who are the
caregivers at home.
WCoZ
Masvingo Chapter chairperson Joyce Mhungu said poor service delivery made the
lives of women harder as they are expected to maintain optimum hygiene at home
with little or no water.
“When
we handed over the petition, we noted some improvements in water supply but
that did not last long enough. Soon, women in areas that receive water on a
fairly regular basis had to go to the boreholes once again; risking the dangers
of getting robbed, sexually abused and contracting coronavirus.
“Poor
sanitation remains a challenge as refuse collection isn’t regular. Sewerage
bursts are not attended to in time and that exposes children to diseases. We
feel that the services that we get do not tally the bills we receive from
council,” said Mhungu.
This
was echoed by Disability Amalgamated Community Trust (DACT) executive director
Henry Chivhanga who said people with disabilities (PWDs) were uniquely affected
by poor service delivery.
“As
long as water is not taps, PWDs are in trouble because they cannot push their
wheel chairs to boreholes. How do they carry buckets? If roads are not well
maintained, mobility is restricted,” said Chivhanga.
In
Harare, reports of corruption and looting in council are widespread and many
arrests have been made in recent weeks, but whether or not the state can build
watertight cases against the accused to secure convictions remains to be seen.
In
August this year, then Harare Mayor Hebert Gomba and former acting director of
housing and human resources Matthew Marara were suspended for allegedly being
involved in massive corruption including the illegal sale of residential
stands.
A
few days later, Hosiah Chisango, the town clerk, also made headlines for
allegedly influencing the allocation, at ridiculously low prices, of two low
density residential stands to two acquaintances who were not on the housing
waiting list.
In
Chitungwiza, 723 hectares of Wetlands were lost to politically-connected land
barons who swindled unsuspecting and desperate home seekers of their
hard-earned cash.
Out
of the 912 hectares of wetlands in the area, only 189 hectares remain.
Cities
like Gweru and Bulawayo are also experiencing worsening service delivery due
to many factors including corruption, bad management and infighting.
With
the rate of corrupt land dealings, majoring of minors and political struggles
in councils, there is cause for
pessimism especially in light of the fact that case of corruption at high
levels have seldom resulted in convictions.
