City of Mutare mayor Blessing Tandi

 …after 500% rate hike, punitive
water step-up bills

Felix
Matasva

MUTARE- City
of Mutare has come under immense pressure from young people who have taken to
social media to register their displeasure against what they describe as an
insensitive 500 percent rate hike.

The online-based social accountability and justice movement,
running under the banner #RatesMustFall, has put the local authority in a catch
22 situation.

Mayor Blessing Tandi has said he was worried about the
campaign, adding that council remained ready to listen to residents’
grievances.

Tandi said council’s
2021 budget had been put together using the city’s 2017 budget model which was
based on US dollars revenue, meaning that rates had to be converted to the
value of the local currency.

 “Most of our operations
are being affected by inflation. If we hadn’t increased rates, all the value would
have been eroded by inflation, with a serious bearing on service delivery.

 “Since we are a listening
council, we have to listen to what the residents say and this outcry means council
has to reconsider its position. Residents should also know that reducing rates
will have an impact on service delivery and development in the city,” said
Tandi.

Youth groups have lambasted the local authority for the
astronomical hike in rates, arguing that residents were already under serious
financial strain due to the Covid-19 induced national lockdown.

Conscious Development and Empowerment Trust (CODET) programmes
coordinator Pride Mkono told TellZim that they wanted a more accountable and
considerate council.

“The Social Accountability and Justice Campaign is
aimed at promoting a culture of dialogue between local the authority and
residents. We are going to develop and adopt a Social Accountability and
Justice Charter for the City of Mutare.

“The charter will be a social contract between the City
and its residents on promoting dialogue and consultation on key issues. The
campaign will run for 12 months, a period within which we hope to create a
platform for sustainable engagement between council and residents as well as civil
society and business.

“Next week, we will be crowdsourcing for residents’
concerns regarding the rate hike in the 19 wards. We will convene discussions
across all 19 wards via WhatsApp. We will also develop and share content such
as posters, short videos and skits.

“After the hard lockdown is relaxed we will undertake
physical meetings, roadshows and outreaches,” said Mkono.

Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) Mutare
Youth Hub have also called on the local authority to reverse the rates
increases and do consultations with residents.

ZIMCODD Mutare Youth Hub official Jussa Kudherezera said the
rates hike was unjustified as most elderly and young people could not afford to
pay them under the hard lockdown.

“The implementation of a hard national lockdown just
after New Year was a blow in the face of young people and the elderly. They no
longer have the opportunity to sell their goods since they depend on informal
trading to generate income.

“Mutare water is brought to the city by gravity and
there is less expense besides the minimal treatment of water before it is
discharged to consumers.

“For the record we still need to know whether or not the
2020 budget has met its targets and if resources were utilized effectively and
efficiently. The city council should not take residents for granted and
disregard their input,” said Kudherezera.

Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Association (MURA) programmes
director David Mutambirwa urged city fathers to give youths a chance to gather residents’
input through their Social Accountability and Justice Project.

“As the world is rapidly going digital, ICTs help
youths in addressing social and economic problems faced by their communities.
As residents, we know council is skeptical about open dialogue. This is a
chance to show their sincerity by allowing these youths to carry out this
project,” said Mutambirwa.

City of Mutare spokesperson Spren Mutiwi told TellZim that
council did consult various stakeholders and residents’ organization on the
2021 budget.

“We had consultations before increasing the rates and
representatives from UMRRT, MURA, business community and SMEs attended the
consultations.

“For the record, the approved tariff is simply designed
to ensure continuity of service delivery provision. The costs of providing the
services have gone up. The costs are driven by input costs for example, council
buys raw water from Zinwa and the cost of raw water has been increasing
throughout the year.

“Water treatment chemicals, spare parts, plant maintenance
and fuel costs are all pegged in US dollars,” said Mutiwi.

The city has introduced a stepped-up water tariff which
punishes heavy users and rewards low users. Under this initiative, which the
council says is pro- poor, residents will enjoy a free usage of water from 0-3
cubic meters (3 000 litres).

Residents would then be required to pay $31. 98 for every
cubic meter used beyond the free threshold.

Mutiwi said that the
maximum water usage expected from a normal household in a high density suburb
was 26 cubic meters (26 000 litres) per month while low density areas have an
expected maximum usage of 60 cubic meters (60 000 litres).

“The stepped up water
tariff charge rewards low users and punishes heavy users. We have heard of
situations where people would water their lawns and gardens using domestic
water which is unacceptable.

“Our water is strictly
for domestic use and those who use more will pay more. We want to encourage
responsible use of water,” said Mutiwi.

Chipinge Town Secretary Susan Dube

Livingstone Mtetwa

CHIPINGE—
The business community here has slammed the town council for coming up with
prohibitive tariffs which they say are anti-business.

In the town council’s 2021 budget proposal a shop
licence has risen to an equivalent of US$200 from a US$63 equivalent last year

Business people who spoke to TellZim News said that
the new tariffs are not in sync with the prevailing economic conditions.

“It seems everything else is going up these days but
no one is paying attention to what the people are earning.

“I run a small phone shop and I wonder where I would
get that money for a shop licence from. We also have to pay rent on top of the
shop licence among other operating expenses. This is suffocating and in a way,
we are being told to close shop,” said one small business owner.

Another added that the council should always consult
with people before coming up with any rates hikes.

“What happened to consulting the people involved?
Nowadays things are just being imposed on us. What justification do they have
to hike shop licences to US$200? It is pure evil and nothing else.

“We should create an enabling environment where
every legitimate person will prosper and not close the door on us. How are we
supposed to grow if we are being robbed like this?

“People should just unite and confront the council,”
said cosmetics shop owner.

Chipinge Town secretary Susan Dube said the council
has pegged its 2021 budget in line with the auction system rate and added a 10
percent variation in case of inflation.

“What people need to understand is the fact that the
council needs money to provide services. The rates which people are complaining
about very reasonable and have been pegged in line with the auction system rate.

“We have also added a 10 percent variation rate
which will cushion us in the event that there is inflation. We are committed to
bringing services to our people and we can only do that if we peg our rates in
line with the prevailing situation,” said Dube.

Chipinge’s 2021 budget also saw a sharp increase in
other tariffs among them water development tariffs which soured by 655% from
$75 to $566, the refuse collection per bin increased from $75 to $499 and
sewerage levy rose from $86 to $554.

Tariro Nendanga

Felix Matasva

MUTARE-
Tertiary education is no longer rosy for a 23-year-old Dangamvura based
Midlands State University (MSU) female student because the new way of learning
through the internet at home is being negatively
affected by traditional gender roles in the wake of Covid-19.

Ever
since Zimbabwe implemented a national lockdown in March 2020 as part of efforts
to contain the spread of deadly coronavirus, tertiary institutions had to
integrate online technologies that enable students to learn from home.

As
the number of Covid-19 infections and deaths escalated during the past festive
season, the country reverted to a hard lockdown with universities rescinding face-to-face lessons.

Tariro Nendanga (23), not real name, a female student
studying for an Honours Degree in Media and Society Studies at MSU, says she is
finding the online learning very tough as she has to balance many priorities at
home.

For Tariro, the process of adapting physical lectures
to e-learning in the wake of Covid-19 is not at all rosy.

There is a set of responsibilties, skills, attitude
and behaviour that is expected of Tariro by her father as well as by the wider
society, and these expectations are seldom supportive to the demands for online
learning.

Tariro’s situation represents the life of many female
tertiary students who are being deprived of their right to education due to
traditional gender roles.

She says her family does not accord her extra time to
focus on her school work as would be necessary under the new learning
conditions.

“Learning
from home has not been easy for me as I
am required to go through several house
chores before I can settle down for school work. 

“I had, however, expected that there would be an understanding that since
e-learning requires more time, I would be spared some of the home duties,”
Tariro told TellZim News.

She says being on campus was more favourable to her studying
routines as she had more time to concentrate on her school work with much less
disturbances.

“My father treats me like a maid and does
not consider that I am still a student. I cannot
study or write my assignments in time because I will be preoccupied with house
chores.

“I sweep the houses, do all the laundry, wash
dishes, fetch water and by the time I try to log into my e-library, my mind is exhausted. 

“He does not assign such duties to my brother as he considers them to be for
girls. He says a woman’s education is nothing when she can not perform her
daily house chores,” said Nendanga.

She once engaged her church so that church leaders
could speak sense to her father but it did not help.

“Our Church members told me to perform all my
duties and responsibilities as expected of a woman by society. They said no matter how busy, I could still manage,” she said.

Tariro also said other problems like lack of reliable
access to the internet as well as the high cost of data were other challenges
she faces.

“The
mobile data that I use to get into the internet is expensive and sometimes my
area loses access due to the rainy weather conditions,” said Tariro.

She says she would be glad if the lockdown got lifted
as that would mean the resumption of physical lectures.

The late Cyril Chitumba

…as man gets murdered at drinking joint 

Brighton Chiseva

ZAKA – Despite the country
being under a level 4 Covid-19 national lockdown which among other things, puts
in place a dusk to dawn curfew and prohibits bars from operating, bar owners
keep flaunting the regulations with one incident turning tragic when a reveler
was gruesomely murdered at Simbamukaka bar in Jerera yesterday.

A
25-year-old Cyril Chitumba was beaten to death at the illegally operating bar
in the early morning hours of February 2, 2021 over a missing Samsung Galaxy
A30 smartphone.

Chitumba
was allegedly assaulted by Gladman Marufu from Chinoda village under chief
Nhema and Kudzai Siyawareva who were accusing him of stealing a cellphone belonging
to latter.

The
deceased is alleged to have been drinking with colleagues at the bottle store where
they were being served liquor through the windows and the back doors.

Masvingo
provincial police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhehwa confirmed the
incident saying people should observe curfew regulations and bars should remain
closed.

“The
police are investigating a murder case which happened at Jerera Growth Point
yesterday.

“The
murder happened way after curfew hours at a bar which should have never opened
under the current lockdown level,” said Dhehwa.

Sources
say that Chitumba breathed his last at around 0300 hours and the police, who
were not at base when people sought help, came at around 0600 hours and
attended the scene.

 “They accused him of stealing a cell phone.
They assaulted him using bricks all over his body and later stabbed him with an
unidentified sharp object. He sustained bodily injuries and a serious wound
near one of his eyes,” said one source.

Onlookers
who included sex workers alerted the deceased’s brother and his mother, who is
a police constabulary based in Jerera, who rushed to the scene.

“His
mother arrived at the scene and tried to intervene but was booted and assaulted
before she rushed to the police base housed at Jerera Community Hall but could
not find any officer,” said another source.

The
deceased’s mother is said to have pleaded with the accused persons to stop but
they demanded cash, a cow and later demanded a car which they were offered by
the bar owner but they turned down saying they wanted to kill him.

“The
deceased’s mother asked them to leave him and offered them money but they
refused saying they wanted a cow. She called other relatives whom she wanted to
bring the cow but they said they now wanted a car.

“The
bar owner Takunda Mupindu offered them his car keys but they turned down the
offer saying they wanted him dead,” said the source.

People
lamented the limited number of police presence in the growth point and said two
officers who are usually posted on night duty at the base barely spend the
night there making it hard for locals to report during the night.

The
accused persons have since been arrested and await to appear in court tomorrow,
February 4.

Tawanda Gozo

TellZim Reporter

City of
Masvingo acting town clerk engineer Edward Mukaratirwa, who was instructed by
the special full council meeting last Friday to serve city engineer Tawanda
Gozo with a suspension letter today (Monday, February 1) pending an
investigation into his conduct, has said that he is still weighing the options.

Mukaratirwa
said that he will not rush to make a decision without carefully considering all
the other routes available.

“A
recommendation was made by the special full council on Friday last week to the
effect that our engineer (Gozo) should be suspended.

“The
recommendation was presented to my office and I am still putting into play
other considerations. We do not want to make a hasty decision without considering
other options which may be available to us.

“We
would like to see if there are no other options other than suspension but at
the end of the day we need to make a decision that is best for the council,”
said Mukaratirwa.

He said
he would have considered all the options by Wednesday and the public will be
made aware.

The
recommendation to suspend Gozo comes against the background of gross
incompetence in the city’s engineering department.

City of
Masvingo mayor Collen Maboke told TellZim News that Gozo stands accused of
gross incompetence and they registered their displeasure to Mukaratirwa.

Maboke said
he once engaged Mukaratirwa and Gozo over the deterioration of service delivery
in the city and the engineer did not heed the advice.

“What
we did was register our displeasure over the conduct of Gozo to his immediate
supervisor, Mukaratirwa.

“Service
delivery has deteriorated under Gozo’s watch and I once engaged him on the
matter but it seems he did not listen. Mukaratirwa was in that meeting as well.

“So
what the special full council meeting did was to recommend for an investigation
by Mukaratirwa and if Gozo is found guilty, he will face disciplinary action
guided by Section 140 of the Urban Councils Act,” said Maboke.

He said
Gozo committed a serious crime of incompetence which warranted dismissal but
said it is at the discretion of Mukaratirwa to suspend him pending an
investigation or keep him on the job while being investigated.

“Gozo
has no sense of urgency. Recently the city received dirty water from the taps
and it took Gozo the whole day to look into the matter. Look at our roads,
drainage, water, sewer and refuse collection. These have deteriorated to unprecedented
levels and all fall under the authority of Gozo.

“Though
the flaws are all there for everyone to see, protocol says that an
investigation has to be made. It is up to Mukaratirwa to suspend Gozo pending
an investigation or investigate him while on the job,” said Maboke.

Masvingo
United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (Murra) director said that if the
council has sufficient evidence to suspend Gozo they should do so as long as it
improves service delivery.

Muguti,
however, warned the council against playing politics with service delivery
saying residents have not been receiving any meaningful service from the local authority.

“What
we are against is using Gozo as a scapegoat to hide their own flaws. Residents have
not been receiving services from council for a long time and our thinking is
that the whole council is incompetent.

“There
is need to suspend all incompetent people at council and not play politics with
service delivery,” said Muguti.