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Glen Norah residents concerned with state of service provision in Harare
Harare Residents Trust (HRT)
August 18, 2009

Report of a meeting at Glen Norah Community Hall on 8 August 2009

Opening:

The meeting started with a prayer from the HRT Membership Officer.

Chairperson's Remarks:

Mrs Juliet Masiyembiri, the Chairperson of the Glen Norah B' residents' Trust welcomed all people and apologised for the late start. She attributed the delay to the confusion that surrounded the time for the holding of the meeting, saying the times had been changed on three times.

State of Service Provision in Glen Norah B:

She reported that the major challenges facing the residents in the suburb included the blocked public toilets, water shortages in schools and the community, uncollected garbage heaps across the area, high water rates, high rentals and lack of proper hygienic practices and numerous broken down sewer pipes causing environmental damage. After her opening remarks, she asked the gathering to raise issues that affected them for the attention of the service providers present at the meeting.

Plenary:

1 Unavailability of skip bins in the community a threat to health living, refuse heaps piling everywhere.
2 Water is unclean when it comes out of the taps when it returns after a cut-off.
3 Rates are too high for the ordinary resident yet services are not improving. Some residents are being charged high water rates yet they have not had water for a long time.
4 Unemployment rate is high and the majority of residents have no stable incomes
5 Residents are highly indebted to the City of Harare and other service providers and the debts keep accumulating.
6 Other residents said the council was deliberately not informing residents about the procedures to follow for one to obtain title deeds to their properties because they got more money out of rented accommodation.
7 Late delivery of statements was a cause for concern as this meant that most residents would have defaulted in payments on time, thereby are charged a penalty fee.

In response to some of these concerns, Mr Mutero explained that the huge bills did not start now but came about as a direct result of residents' failure to settle their bills on time. He said after realising the huge bills, the finance department resolved to send out letters to all residents of Harare demanding payment within seven days. The standard figure for those residents with title deeds is US$14, 48 in Glen Norah and this has been the charge since February 2009. He urged residents with problems in making payments to approach their district offices so that they discuss the payment plans with the revenue officers.

The council official said the late delivery of statements to residents was a result of the shortages of manpower in their departments. Many employees had left for greener pastures while the few who remain are overstretched, he said. He said residents without title deeds were being charged an administrative fee of US$5, making a total of US$19 when they go to make their payments at council offices. He said residents needed to apply for title deeds. The procedure to be followed was that one needed to carry out a survey and are given survey diagrams- using council's recommended surveyors. The diagrams are taken to the council and get forms to fill and the process rolls out in earnest until one got their title deeds. The other option was for residents to do block surveying whereby residents living in the same street could just get one surveyor who carries out the survey and proceeds to produce the survey diagrams for them, at a cheaper cost as they spread the cost among themselves. If it's one surveyor per household, it is more expensive, the officials hinted.

A vendor among the residents in attendance said they faced routine harassment and persecution by both the Zimbabwe Republic Police and Municipal police who at times beat them up, heavily fine them and also confiscate their wares, perpetuating their poverty. The vendor said last year there was a financial crisis, but residents continued to pay their rates and rentals in the valueless Zimbabwe Dollar before the arrival of the multi-currency system which allows residents to use foreign currency. The US $ has been difficult to obtain, making the livelihoods of the majority people unbearable.

A resident Timothy Mukwengu said the council should educate people about issue of title deeds. He asked the council officials why residents needing title deeds had to have their properties surveyed yet at construction, they were also surveyed. The District Officer (DO) said at construction, stands are serviced but remain the property of the council selling the stand. There would be need to transfer ownership from the council to the individual purchasing the house, which gives the owner complete title to the house. The council, he said, does not force people to obtain title to their houses. Most houses remain council property because they are being rented. He said new suburbs like Glen Norah C, Budiriro and a few others were surveyed so residents there do not need to get a surveyor in order to obtain title deeds. They simply have to apply to council and fill in the necessary forms.

On the issue of continuous payments to council, the DO said at the time of purchase, residents enter into an agreement of sale, stating the duration of making payments, outlining the purchase instalment.

Residents' Constitutional Issues:

The HRT Coordinator outlined the major issues for consideration by residents for the constitutional reform exercise being spearheaded by the Parliamentary Select Committee. Below are the highlights of his discussion on the issue;

1 Local Government must be enshrined in the Constitution
2 Residents must have the power of recalling non-performing or defecting elected officials- especially councillors.
3 Water being a right must be state-funded, and should be in the Bill of Rights. A minimum quantity of water has to be allocated to each individual as a monthly free allocation, paid for by the state.
4 A housing fund has to be set up to enable the state to construct low cost housing units every year for the growing population.
5 Mandatory civic education programmes, collectively funded by the council and state to empower the citizenry, have to be provided for in the Constitution.
6 The Mayor should be directly elected by the citizenry to promote accountability and transparency.
7 The powers of the Minister should be minimal as to allow local authorities to exercise their authority.
8 Local government has to be decentralised to ensure that local authorities allocate more resources to the DOs so that they provide quality services to residents and they become more accountable.
9 Candidates for councillors in elections should have ordinary Level certificates, and should be able to read and write.

The Coordinator said the high rates being charged by council remained useless as long as residents felt they could not afford them. It is far much better for the council to get a minimum figure from every household than to get very little from a few households every month. He proposed a cut off date to ensure a reprieve to defaulting residents so that new rates approved by the council are affected. He said the HRT was prepared to work with council on the issue of rates payment as long as the council was open to discuss the critical issues affecting residents. He said the HRT would want all residents to pay for services to the council, but will not force residents to pay unrealistic bills. However 'a rates boycott is a clear sign of a failed advocacy strategy'. Residents must pay what they can.

Councillor's Report:

Herbert Gomba, the Ward 27 Councillor thanked the HRT for organising the meeting, saying this partnership provided the council with an opportunity to meet and interact with residents. He said the City of Harare was broke and if it were a private company it would have folded a long time ago.

Below are the key issues that the councillor highlighted in his report;

9 The Estate Account has no resources to finance the provision of houses.
10 The general Account is equally broke to finance provision of services to residents of Harare.
11 Council's infrastructure is collapsed- roads, refuse collection vehicles and provision of refuse bins. While they would need 40 vehicles for refuse collection, the council only had five vehicles on the road to carry out refuse collection.
12 The City currently needs US$50 million for both sewer and water structural reticulation but had only received US$17 million from the Government for the same purpose. Another US$12 million is earmarked from the World Bank to upgrade their water infrastructure with the other contribution coming from the residents through rates payment.
13 For several years the council was not saving any money for future expansion, upgrading and repairs of the water infrastructure, exposing the council. The international Red Cross has donated US$2, 5 million to the council to purchase new pipes. The councillor said the majority of the water pipes have become obsolete and rusty. The water tanks also require to be regularly cleaned so that residents receive clean water all the time. The council has entered into partnerships with some communities to upgrade the water and sewerage systems, including clearing the blocked drainages.
14 The City of Harare needs at least three months to rectify the prevailing situation by covering up potholes, changing some of the pipes and repairing damaged infrastructure. The fear from their side is that the shallow wells that have sustained residents and caused them cholera could become more dangerous in the approaching rainy season.
15 The electricity power line from Morton Jeffrey has been dogged by numerous power cuts, exacerbating the water shortages. Without power, there is no water pumping from Morton Jeffrey.
16 Residents need to pay for water consumption monthly to ensure that the water infrastructure is upgraded. No payment no water, he said. He said it is important for residents to pay the little money they had for services than to totally ignore payment of rates to the council.
17 Negotiations should be opened between the council and the residents over the issue of high water rates and rentals so that things begin to move. He said it is time to unite and start afresh in order to restore normal services to residents.
18 He said the council was negotiating with the African Development Bank for possible housing partnership. There is a higher demand for housing than the council can possibly supply the land on which to build the houses. So far they have identified six surrounding farms so that they can be purchased using funds sourced from some interested financiers.
19 The councillor said he will facilitate a meeting between the residents, the municipal police and vendors to ensure that they review the policies governing the operations of flea market, housing and other issues affecting the community. The recommendations will be presented to the council through the council committees, before being tabled for adoption by a full council.
20 US$6 million has so far been mobilised towards road repairs and maintenance.

Honourable MP Dzirutwe:

1 The MP said the residents are coming from a traumatic era where violence was unleashed on innocent people. He said Zimbabwe needed a Marshal Plan to get it working again like what happened to Germany after the Second World War.
2 The Inclusive Government has its challenges which have to be overcome, he said. These challenges included the continuous arrest of MPs, the appointment of the Reserve Bank Governor and the Attorney General. On the rates, he said he sympathised with the residents, because the rates were still too high even after the council cut by 50 percent its initial budget.
3 He questioned how the high electricity bill of US$30 per household in the high density areas came about. He said as the peoples' representative in the House of Assembly he believed that US$10 would be enough to cover the whole month if rates in other countries are anything to go by.
4 'When starting afresh as a nation, we must be serious and be seen to be serious to resolve pertinent issues," MP Dzirutwe said. "Residents have to take full responsibility for their community infrastructure. Dialogue is important to minimise the continued vandalism of community infrastructure."
5 He said heavy vehicles should be barred from using the roads in the residential areas except for refuse removal, deliveries and removal vehicles-like Glens, Swift etc.
6 Residents, policymakers and other key stakeholders have to work together to safeguard the environment, through organising such important activities as community tree planting.
7 He discussed the issue of how the Zimbabwean Ministers are chosen as compared to other countries, especially in America where the President chooses from the whole citizenry, and not necessarily from Parliament. Zimbabwe's Ministers are selected from Members of Parliament.

District Officer: Mr Guzha

7 The DO suggested that residents who were finding it difficult to pay should approach their revenue officers to make payment plans.
8 On the issue of inheritance of houses by widows and children, the DO said he would help them with introductory letters to community courts for mediation where disputes arise.
9 Vendors are regulated by city by-laws and health regulations. Reports come to the DO's office and are the Municipal police act on the basis of those reports.
10 The concept of social organisers is no longer there. Under this approach, residents organised themselves to protect their community infrastructure like, community halls, and children's swings and maintenance of community grounds.

Key Recommendations and Way Forward:

11 Residents will organise tree planting in the community to mitigate against continued environmental degradation.
12 The Harare Residents' Trust to facilitate a meeting with the mayor, the Finance Chairperson and its leadership to discuss the high rentals and rates.
13 A massive civic education campaign on citizens' duties and responsibilities has to be undertaken with partnership of civil society partners, council and business community. Suburban structures can approach donors of their choice for a sustainable partnership.
14 Carry out education campaign on how to obtain title deeds.
15 Convene monthly meetings on service delivery.

For details and comments on this meeting, please contact Mrs Masiyembiri on 0913013584 or email us on hretrust@yahoo.com

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