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Municipal Monitor: Service delivery snap-shot
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
July 22, 2011

Water delivery

Generally there has been a significant improvement in the delivery of water. Western suburbs were victims of dry taps for the past two weeks. Areas that were strongly affected were Malbereign, Dzivarasekwa, Mufakose and Budiriro. However, residents of Mandara, Greendale and parts of Mabvuku-Tafara continue to receive an erratic water supply prompting residents to go for alternative means of sourcing the commodity with some opting for unprotected water sources which is an obvious health hazard. Meanwhile, the Association held a meeting with Harare water (Malberein) to get an insight on the challenges facing water delivery and what came out was that City of Harare is battling to replace old damaged pipes. CHRA recommended that when ever there are possible water cuts, City of Harare should timeously inform residents so that they can prepare themselves by storing safe water in advance.

Electricity

Residents of Harare are crying foul on the frequency of power cuts vis-à-vis the money being charged by ZESA. All suburbs of Harare are receiving electricity inconsistently. A ZESA official addressing a CHRA meeting in Kambuzuma last week attributed the power shortage to the high demand of electricity in winter whilst the Country doesn't have enough power to consistently supply the nation. We continue to engage ZESA on the issue whilst we try to find lasting solutions to this crisis. CHRA remains concerned by the billing system used by the parastatal as most of the times these bills may prove to be too exorbitant for the poor urban citizenry to cushion.

Refuse Collection

City of Harare has tried its best to offer residents a reliable refuse collection system on a weekly basis. CHRA visited the department of works and discovered that some of the new trucks donated by BANC ABC have gone down and are in need of major servicing. The Association recommended that C.O.H adopts reliable and efficient maintenance systems for service delivery vehicles. This means that the few trucks left are under pressure to service the whole City but to date, C.O.H has tried its best to cover the whole City even though collection dates may differ from time to time. CHRA intends to unpack a plan of augmenting City of Harare's refuse collection by conducting its own refuse collection coupled with massive clean up campaigns. This is a concept borrowed from Kenya Alliance of Residents Associations (KARA).

Infrastructure development - Roads

CHRA would like applaud C.O.H in its efforts of maintaining roads in Harare. The Local Authority is always filling up potholes daily and has set aside a team to look into that together with a surveillance team that is always looking for roads in need of service. However, this is a short term solution because when the rains come they will wash away the filled potholes. We acknowledge the efforts made by council in resurfacing 4th street between Josiah tongogara and Herbert Chitepo. This should act as a benchmark for all road repairs in Harare since it gives a lasting solution to the reduction of road carnage.

Visit the CHRA fact sheet

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