|
Back to Index
CHRA
holds successful Harare municipal conference
Combined Harare
Residents Association (CHRA)
September 01, 2008
The Combined
Harare Residents Association (CHRA) held a successful Harare Municipal
Conference on Friday the 29th of August 2008. Participants in the
conference included City of Harare Mayor, councillors, and technical
staff from the city of Harare, Senator Morgan Femai, partners from
the civic society and NGO sector as well as the CHRA leadership.
The conference sought to develop a common plan between the residents
and the councillors, of addressing service delivery problems in
Harare and local Governance related issues.
CHRA Chairperson
Mr Simbarashe Moyo welcomed the participants to the conference.
In his speech he expressed the Association's willingness to
support the council in order to improve service delivery in Harare
as well as improve Zimbabwe's local Governance system. The
Chairperson reasserted CHRA's position that in essence the
Association remains essentially a watchdog against council operations
in the fight for improved service delivery; and therefore will not
hesitate to speak out when council blunders. Mayor Masunda reiterated
his stance that the council is there to serve and not to be served!
The Mayor expressed his gratitude for the sterling work being done
by CHRA in the areas of capacity building for the council as well
as residents. After the CHRA Chief Executive Officer (CEO)'s
presentation and subsequent discussions, the residents and the councillors
agreed that the following issues must be addressed urgently;
- Advocacy
for Constitutionalisation of local Governance
- Restoration
of the executive mayoral powers
- Reclamation
of the water supply and sewer reticulation responsibility from
ZINWA
- Implementation
of effective waste management programs
- Rehabilitation
of council recreational and sanitary facilities
- Road maintenance.
- Immediate
stop to street vendor harassment by Municipal police
- The need
for maximum/broad residents participation in all council decision
making processes
- The need
to provide shelter for the survivors of Operation Murambatsvina
and other homeless residents.
- Audit of
Council property
- Development
and implementation of urban agriculture programs
The conference
agreed that CHRA should continue with its capacity building program
especially around the following issues;
- Training
on Council duties, rights, powers & functions as provided
by the law
- Residents
consultation & community engagement strategies
- Participatory
budget formulation processes
- Project planning
and management; including monitoring & evaluation
- Fundraising
strategies
- Providing
information about existing and potential networks and partnerships
which the council and residents can use to address pertinent issues
like housing and HIV/AIDS
CHRA remains
firmly committed to its stance of ensuring enhanced civic participation
in all local Governance processes. In that regard, the Association
is eager to continue providing such platforms like the Municipal
conference, so that the residents and the councillors are able to
plan, implement and evaluate joint plans of action aimed at improving
local governance and service delivery in particular.
Visit the CHRA
fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
