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Mbare residents quiz councillor over steep rates and service delivery
Harare Residents Trust (HRT)
February 09, 2010

Residents here have drawn up a list of more than fifty questions aimed at the elected councillors, the District Officer and Town House officials over what they termed 'unjustified rates and collapse in service delivery' by the Harare City Council. The residents urged Councillor Mugove Chingombe of Ward 12 to be actively involved with the community that elected him if he wanted to be relevant.

Resident after resident posed questions around the high rates and rentals, the inconsistent water billing, alleged partisanship of councillors, corruption by city officials, and the unaccountability of councillors and insecurity of residents in their houses. Councillor Chingombe managed to answer some of the questions but could not provide satisfactory responses to other pertinent issues raised by residents of Ward 3, 4, and 11.

This happened at Stodart Gym Hall on Saturday 6 February 2010 when around 250 residents gathered for a community meeting to discuss the state of service delivery in Mbare, the performance of elected councillors, rates and rentals by the City of Harare, and other issues affecting the residents. They drew up a list of questions they gave to the residents' leadership so that councillors and city officials provide clear and satisfactory answers at the next meeting.

Eunice Wakatama (+263 733 252 622), the Chairperson of the Mbare Residents' Trust (MRT) said it was important for residents to regularly meet, be informed and discuss their issues so that service providers and elected representatives are constantly held accountable. She said councillors should provide regular feedback on how they were representing residents in council business. "A councillor who fails to work with the citizenry is not worth to be our representative," she said. "We must unite as residents and share information about how our council is operating."

Thabani Matesi (+263 733 603 464), a member of the MRT Mobilisation Committee reported on the MRT workshop, facilitated by the Zimbabwe Association of Crime and Rehabilitation of Offenders (ZACRO) at Mazvikadei Lodge a fortnight ago. In his report back to the residents, Matesi said Mbare was viewed as a crime haven and the residents had the power to change this perception through vigorous crime prevention measures.

"It was clear during the workshop that residents are opposed to the corruption by Neighbourhood Watch Committee members," he said. "Residents want to be at the forefront of selecting their own voluntary police force, trained by the ZRP. It is now up to us as a community to cooperate with police and other stakeholders in the fight against police corruption, and other criminal vices."

Chairperson of Mabvuku Residents' Trust Andrew Mutambu said residents needed to unite, and speak with one voice, using their enormous power over service providers and elected representatives. Treasurer of Highfield Residents' Trust Kunasa Masakura said in Highfield they had managed to expose council corruption through working with the community and the police.

HRT Coordinator Precious Shumba said the purpose of a residents' body is to educate, inform and build the capacity of the citizenry to make informed decisions, facilitate engagement of all stakeholders in the interest of citizens. Elected representatives and service providers have to be accountable and should be transparent in the utilisation of public resources, he said.

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