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Local government media tracker - Issue 01 - 2013
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
January 25, 2013

Chiyangwa wins court case against Harare City Council
The Zimbabwe Mail

Controversial Harare Businessman Phillip Chiyangwa won a provisional High Court order compelling the Harare City Council to transfer properties to his company, Kilima Investments, or to pay him US$2 million for the land swap deals the two parties entered into in 2007. The order, which Justice November Mtshiya granted after Chiyangwa made an urgent chamber application through his lawyers, Kantor and Innerman, is the latest twist in the long-running dispute involving thousands of hectares of land in Harare. The properties include five pieces of land in different suburbs. Justice Mtshiya said the Harare City Council breached its land exchange agreement with the Maverick businessman and barred the local authority from selling or disposing of any of the properties at the centre of the dispute. Chiyangwa said Town House should give him 8,971 hectares of land to conclude an arrangement that saw him parcel out his 16 000-hectare Derbyshire industrial stand in exchange for properties in several suburbs.

Zimbabwe: Harare uses water potable water supply
The Herald

Harare City Council said it has increased efforts to provide potable water to Typhoid-hit suburbs in light of recent increases in water borne diseases. Speaking during a council meeting in mid-December, Town Clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi said there had been alarming increases in typhoid cases in Glen View, one of the most populated areas in Harare. "Typhoid cases have risen to 800 of which 700 cases were in Glen View. "Efforts to provide potable water in the suburb and thus ameliorating the epidemic have henceforth become the council's main area of priority," he said. Dr Mahachi said the city's technical department had since received orders to respond aptly to the water situation. Officials in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare recently called on Government to declare water shortages in cities and towns a national disaster following persistent typhoid outbreaks in these areas.

Zimbabwe: Harare fails to relieve old bulls
The Herald

Harare City Council has not yet found replacements to relieve its aged pack of 54 overworked bulls. A check with officials revealed that council has not bought the 26 bulls it requested to complement the aged. Harare Water, which manages City farms, had complained that the calving ratio had been reduced as the bulls were attending to more cows than required. Calving ratio had gone down by 50 percent. Each bull should attend to 25 cows. "The state of the bulls at the farms is no longer suitable for breeding, mainly due to old age. City Spokesman Mr Leslie Gwindi confirmed the bulls were still to be bought. He said the festive season had caused the delay. "We expect to get the bulls in the next two months," he said.

Zimbabwe: High density suburbs without water for months
SW Radio Africa

The Harare City Council has continued to fail residents by not providing basic daily necessities like water and electricity, with residents in some areas now complaining that they have not had water or power for two months. Reports said the most recently affected areas include parts of Glen View and Glen Norah, where residents say that they have not had water for two months and no-one appears to be in charge of the whole system. They fear that water borne diseases will again become a serious problem. According to Glen View and Glen Norah residents, many of the boreholes that served the area are currently not working and there appears to be no plans to repair them, even though the council has been notified. Residents say when the water does come; it is noticeably brown and contains sediment that looks like rust from pipes. It is often not safe for drinking.

Chombo chickened out: Mayor
NewsDay

Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo reportedly chickened out from sending a second board of inquiry to try suspended Gwanda Mayor Lionel De Necker on December 19 after instructing him to attend the disciplinary hearing. The hearing was supposed to take place after an incident on December 13 in which a man who claimed to have been sent by Chombo delivered summons on De Necker at 10pm, for him to appear before the board. This was despite a High Court order barring Chombo from conducting the hearing. Following the incident, De Necker said he now feared for his life. "They were supposed to come and try me on December 19," he said. "However, they did not come on the day. Definitely they chickened out."

Chombo issues floods warning
NewsDay

The Government warned the public to brace for anticipated floods especially in low-lying areas as weather experts forecast incessant rains over the next three months. In a statement, Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo said the public must generally be aware of the potential dangers posed by heavy rains. "The general public is advised to make an effort to know their local weather patterns, monitor water levels in their environs, take necessary precautions on the roads by driving at safe speed and be generally aware of prevailing hazards," he said. Chombo further warned that the public must ensure use of safe water in order to prevent water borne and water-based diseases such as diarrhea, malaria and bilharzia.

Harare starts hearing on car sale scam
NewsDay

Disciplinary hearings against the 27 Harare City Council employees accused of clandestinely authorizing illegal car sales garages to operate in the city started at the beginning of the month with the local authority's chief suspect Ebben Francisco, giving evidence. Francisco, who heads the city's evaluation and estates division, was suspended last month alongside his 26 subordinates over allegations of taking bribes from illegal operators. The suspensions came after Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo ordered council to demolish all illegal car sales garages in the city, arguing his probe team had established that only one out of about 200 garages was operating legally. Meanwhile, the suspension of the department's entire taskforce has reportedly affected council operations as no evaluation of properties has been done since December 5 last year.

Harare city in stadia u-turn
The Sunday Mail

Harare City Council, for long criticized for being insensitive to the plight of local football, have begun to extricate themselves from widespread negative perception by smoking the peace pipe with Zifa. The game's stakeholders believes the municipality chews an unrealistically huge chunk of revenue from matches staged at their various properties in the city which include Rufaro, Gwanzura and Dzivarasekwa stadium without investing back in their maintenance. Passionate appeals by successive football administrators for council to lower their prohibitive tariff of 20 percent deduction on the gross income of gate-takings accrued from all football matches at municipal-owned grounds have on countless occasions fallen on deaf ears with city fathers not willing to budge. But in what seemed an about-turn, a top official in the city council sought to absolve council of any blame, inviting the national football controlling body for talks that could lead to an agreement that would benefit development of the country's most favorite sport.

MDC-T councillor sues Chombo for unlawful dismissal
Zimeye

MDC-T Information Department/Councilor Mxolisi Ndlovu of Umguza rural district in Matebeleland North has taken Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Local Government, to court over unlawful dismissal. Councilor Ndlovu was dismissed by Chombo last November on allegations of misconduct. However, Councilor Ndlovu filed papers at the High Court in Bulawayo challenging his dismissal by Chombo who has been fingered in several cases of corruption including illegally acquiring land in urban and rural councils across the country. In his court papers, Councilor Ndlovu argues that his dismissal by Chombo is politically motivated. "The investigations that led to me being charged with seven counts of misconduct were patently biased and clearly conducted along politically partisan lines," Councilor Ndlovu said in his court papers.

Mbada diamonds donates to Harare City
The Zimbabwean

Mbada diamonds unveiled $150 000 worth of borehole water chlorinators and other items to Harare City Council in a bid to alleviate the spread of water borne diseases. Officially handing over the equipment to the HCC, Mbada Corporate Services Executive, George Manyaya, described the donation as a positive step in the fight against water borne diseases bedeviling the capital. HCC controls 235 boreholes sunk by development partners and a recent survey of 85 boreholes revealed that 26 of the water sources were contaminated by faecal matter that can cause typhoid. The mining company, through its corporate social responsibility programme, has diversified its focus to the health sector, hence its 2013 theme, "Mbada in health".

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