Harare
MDC councillors donkeys, say residents Municipal Reporter
The
Herald
February
06, 2004
THE Combined
Harare Ratepayers' Association (CHRA) (sic) has dismissed MDC
councillors in Harare as a bunch of donkeys which should not be
allowed a second term in office owing to their high degree of
incompetence. This came out of a CHRA consultative meeting on
the 2004 Harare budget on Wednesday night. The meeting was aimed
at finding the way forward on the budget, condemned by some ratepayers
as unsustainable. A CHRA member, Mr Fitz Patrick (sic), said Harare
residents made a grave mistake by voting MDC councillors into
office. "We voted into office a lot of donkeys."
He said blame
for the budget proposals should not be laid on the Minister of
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Cde Ignatius
Chombo, because he had not yet approved it. "The MDC councillors
passed the budget. "The budget has nothing to do with Chombo,"
said Mr Patrick (sic). No MDC councillor should be voted back
into office during the next council elections as residents needed
intelligent councillors who appreciated the role of local government.
Another resident,
Mr Malcom (sic) Leppard described the MDC councillors as inept
and encouraged voters to dump them. Sentiments among other ratepayers
were that the councillors were divorced from the realities of
the poor hence they passed an insensitive budget. "The councillors
are insensitive. We should pass a vote of no confidence in the
whole council," said a student who also attended the meeting.
Clr George
Vlahakis (ward 2, Eastlea, Hillside, Arcadia and Cranborne) said
the councillors were being used as pawns by officials in the blame
game. Suspended Harare mayor Engineer Elias Mudzuri who attended
the meeting attacked the absence of town clerk Mr Nomutsa Chideya
and acting mayor Clr Sekesayi Makwavarara from the meeting, though
the two said they were not invited.
Eng Mudzuri
urged the councillors should revise the budget and come up with
one that addressed the concerns of the ratepayers. "I urge my
fellow councillors to revise the budget and to stop blaming the
officials. The Urban Councils Act mandates councillors to oversee
the operations of council," he said. Eng Mudzuri encouraged the
councillors to consult him on the budget revision. "You cannot
blame the budget on Chideya because he does not do anything without
your approval," he said. He said the people of Harare would soon
"eat us if we do not consult them".
Even Clr Christopher
Mushonga concurred that the councillors were inexperienced. "Most
of us have never been in council. 45 people who were nobody yesterday
are today cast in as city fathers and mothers to inherit a corporation
where they do not know the tricks of governance," said Clr Mushonga.
He said no more than three councillors had input in the current
budget proposals. Clr Mushonga did not say why the bulk of the
councillors failed to contribute to the budget formulation exercise
as mandated by the voters.
However, a
Chitungwiza councillor, Mr Collin (sic) Gwiyo, said the MDC was
playing into the hands of Zanu-PF by attacking its own councillors.
An MDC official who attended the meeting said the councillors
should reverse the budget as the party risked losing confidence
of the people. Mr Gwiyo said opposition councillors should stop
crying about residential stands and increases in allowances. "Those
who have not achieved anything in private life should not offer
themselves for public office."
The official
said the essence of public office was to demonstrate one's achievements
in private life for the benefit of others. Other suggestions were
that ratepayers should be empowered to remove any councillor who
failed to perform. Harare City Council has faced numerous problems
in the past few years, most of which can be blamed on the infighting
by councillors and officials.
Last year,
council spent at least two months discussing the reinstatement
of Mr Chideya and even boycotting meetings over his participation.
Some of the meetings that were affected were on budget formulation
Some residents of Harare have said they would boycott payment
of rates and other fees charged by council because they were too
high. Council last month raised parking fees to as much as $23
390 a day in some parking bays. Water charges have also been raised
astronomically.
Remarks
condemned
The
Herald
February
07, 2004
Members of
the public and councillors yesterday reacted angrily to statements
by the Combined Harare Ratepayers Association describing Harare
councillors as donkeys. Chairman of the Greater Harare Informal
Traders Association Mr Mike Banda said the statement was uncalled
for. A CHRA member, Mr Firtz (sic) Patrick, said Harare residents
made a grave mistake by voting MDC councillors into office.
"We voted
into office a lot of donkeys. No MDC councillors should be voted
back into office during the next council elections as residents
need intelligent councillors who appreciate the role of local
government," Mr Patrick said during a CHRA meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Banda said it did not matter whether the councillors were Zanu-PF
or MDC, adding that it was not kind to refer to another human
being as a donkey. "If he felt the councillors were not professionals
or were inept, he should have used a better word to describe them,"
he said.
Clr Last Maengahama,
who was present when the statement was made, said it was a racial
statement made by an individual. He said if CHRA upheld the statement
and did not issue a statement to disown the view then it was unfortunate.
"How can you call your colleague a donkey? We should not solve
differences by scolding each other," he said.
Clr Linos
Mushonga (ward 23, Waterfalls) said the statement was "a stupid
racial remark" that did not represent the feelings of Harare residents.
He said it was unfortunate that the remarks were made at a meeting
that did not represent the interests of all Harare residents.
CHRA is largely
made up of residents from the northern suburbs, most of whom have
never embraced national independence. "CHRA does not represent
all residents of Harare," he said. When Mr Patrick made the remarks,
participants at the meeting erupted into a frenzy. The meeting
was made up of members of the National Constitutional Assembly,
MDC, councillors and residents.
