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City of Harare 2012 budget position update
Harare Residents' Trust (HRT)
October 07, 2011

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Introduction

Grassroots participation remains a fundamental ingredient in the work of the Harare Residents' Trust (HRT) a residents' movement that has proved beyond question that it exists to serve the interest of the public. The HRT has indeed come in to fill the void between service providers and the residents of Harare for better service provision. The HRT organized a budget consultation meeting to come up with a clear and feasible position on the 2012 City budget. The 23 pre-budget consultative meetings organised by the City of Harare hindered real citizens' participation, repeating the same mistake they have made in the past three years. The meeting was chaired by the Founder and Coordinator of the HRT, Mr. Precious Shumba. Present at the meeting were representatives from the established HRT suburban structures who included members of the Residents' Council members (RC) a critical body in the structure of the HRT. Discussions at the meeting focused on concerns raised at pre-budget consultation meetings held during the consultation period. Brief background information on the city budget was given by the HRT Membership Officer, Simbarashe Majamanda. Key deliberations, suggestions, recommendations and proposals are detailed in this update.

Brief Background on the City budget

After giving a brief history of the HRT focusing on the thrust of the residents' movement, Majamanda emphasised that council has not been transparent in budget formulation and implementation. There has been no access to audited reports from 2008 to present which is picturesque of the fact that council has ceased to represent the public interest. Council has failed to give verbal or even written financial reports to residents who are the chief funder of council through rates payment. He said that budget meetings were poorly organised and there was very low attendance. Council officials concentrated on mentioning their assumed successes such as resurfacing Borrowdale Road and acquiring 20 refuse trucks and replacement of water pipes in the CBD just to mention a few. The meetings were reduced to pure service delivery meetings rather than budget consultative meetings. Residents at the meeting identified and agreed that their priorities in the City budget be as follows:

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