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Harare Commission hiding behind a finger
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
January 13, 2006

THE outbreak of Cholera in Harare and other towns did not come as a surprise to us. What surprised us most was the attempt to minimise the impact of the outbreak. The threats of disease outbreaks in Harare were long expected given the negligent behaviour of the illegal commission running the affairs of the capital, in refuse collection, repairing of burst sewerage pipes and water treatment.

The illegal commission tasked with the enormous task of turning around the fortunes of Harare has failed in its responsibility to serve Harare residents. Our repeated calls for their ouster to pave way for elections to choose people with the mandate to represent Harare residents should be heeded now than ever.

This clique of unelected officials at Town House has put the lives of nearly two million people at the risk of contracting the deadly cholera and dysentery infection. The Makwawarara Commission was all along aware of the health situation in Harare and did nothing to avert the deaths of innocent residents.

Attempts by the authorities through the State-controlled ZTV Newsnet to portray Operation Murambatsvina as a positive exercise in the fight against the cholera outbreak exposed the State to further public ridicule. They sought to play up the role of the clean-up exercise in creating a conducive health environment explaining that the impact of the cholera outbreak could have been severe if the capital had not been cleared of filthy.

CHRA condemns the city commissioners for covering up for their inefficiency and negligence, and anyone who does so.

Solomon Tawengwa, the former Zanu PF mayor for Harare was fired in 1999 after the city residents went for five days without water. Engineer Elias Mudzuri, the first elected executive mayor was suspended in April 2003 and subsequently dismissed in April 2004 for alleged mismanagement of council affairs and corruption, yet there were visible signs of aggressive road repairs, among other achievements.

The clearest testimony to date that Makwawarara and her fellow puppet commissioners have failed to administer Harare is the direct involvement of Chombo in the running of the City of Harare. The Central Business District (CBD) now stinks because of uncollected garbage. Raw sewerage flows uninterrupted in Dziwarasekwa, Mabvuku, Glen Norah, Mbare, Highfield and Sunningdale.

Piles of garbage are evident in residential, industrial and shopping centres across Harare. Harare residents unreservedly reject this determined attempt by the illegal commission running the City of Harare in collaboration with Chombo to destroy the little that remains of the capital.

The persistent water cuts in most residential areas are a recipe for disaster and certainly justify the dismissal of the Commission to pave way for elected officials. Water shortages have been made routine by the illegal commission which has affected residents in Budiriro, Glen View, Glen Norah and Highlands who go for long periods without water. Cholera will continue to claim more lives in the City of Harare if people are exposed to unsafe drinking water and co-habitat with piles of rotting garbage.

Harare is the image of Zimbabwe and should be run by elected officials accountable to Harare residents. Conversely, if the capital is run by a clique of people without the mandate of the residents, what does it say of the country? The adage that says ‘Birds of a feather flock together’ must be remembered.

We appeal to Vice-President Joyce Mujuru to take stern action against both Chombo and the Makwawarara Commission for causing the deaths of innocent people and the admission in hospitals of hundreds others due to dysentery and cholera infections.

It is in that spirit that CHRA demands the immediate sacking of the Makwawarara Commission and advocate for a turnaround strategy for the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development so that it is clear to the public what Chombo wants to achieve. As the Chinese say ‘When a fish rots, it starts from the head’.

The inhumane response of the illegal commission to the public outcry on the health situation in Harare warrants an investigation, with a view of prosecuting the culprits. The powers that be must institute thorough investigations into the conduct of the Makwawarara Commission and the findings of this nature should be made public.

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