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Chombo running scared of Harare residents
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
July 03, 2006

The utterances by Minister of Local Government Ignatius Chombo at a press conference held in the capital on Thursday exposed the deep-rooted fears that engulf the regime of President Mugabe where it concerns Harare residents.

The minister was quoted saying he disapproved the new water rates imposed by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) because they were not in the best interests of residents.

The water crisis that we face today and the chaos at Town House are a direct result of the shambolic nature of local government legislation and the conduct of Chombo where it concerns Makwavarara.

The outrage by Harare residents when ZINWA and the City of Harare imposed new unreasonable, unjustified and unlawful water charges has forced Chombo to step into the fray and act like the messiah.

At the beginning of the week, the suspended Town Clerk convened a meeting of both heads of departments and District Officers and directed them to let residents pay the May water rates and ignore the ZINWA imposed June water rates until outstanding issues are resolved.

Residents should not be fooled. Chombo is aware that the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) is mobilising for total rates boycott and fears that their source of cheap finances from the municipality faces eminent collapse.

CHRA is under no illusions that Chombo is beginning to speak on behalf of residents of Harare. We are cognisant of his role in denying Harare residents the opportunity to elect a council of their choice. Chombo’s party and government are very much afraid of the backlash from residents in an election, hence the constant illegal renewal of the term for the Makwavarara-led commission.

The mandatory term of a commission to run a municipality under the Urban Councils’ Act (Chapter 29:15) is strictly six months which should only be extended by a further three months before elections are held.

His utterances that he endorses the suspension of Town Clerk Nomutsa Chideya by the disastrous Sekesai Makwavarara is evidence that the systems governing our country, and indeed our municipality have collapsed in the middle and need immediate revival through a collective response by the majority of Harare residents.

Informed sources at Town House and within the local governance sector have made it clear to us that Makwavarara, and her fellow political appointees at Town House, masquerading as commissioners have no legal standing to deal with either Chideya as an employee of the Harare Municipality and Harare residents.

CHRA maintains that Makwavarara’s commission is illegal and cannot make legally binding decisions on behalf of a municipality whose date for municipal elections is overdue.

It is in that spirit that CHRA calls on the residents of Harare to stop paying their rates until the following conditions have been met;

• Mobilise residents to submit generic letters of objections to illegal and unjustified levying of rates by the City of Harare. Ward Coordinators and Chairpersons submit a generic letter of objection to Town House on Monday the 3rd of July.
• Hold peaceful processions to submit petitions to Town House and ZESA over poor service delivery.
• The new water tariffs imposed by ZINWA are set aside, and ZINWA must not be involved in our water supply and administration.
• Elections to choose a mayor and councillors for Harare are held and
• There is exchange of value in terms of service delivery in relation to contractual law

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