Back to Index

Rebuilding Harare will be exciting - Gutu
Veneranda Langa, NewsDay
August 29, 2013

https://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/08/29/rebuilding-harare-will-exciting-gutu/

MDC-T this week recommended former deputy Justice and Legal Affairs minister Obert Gutu for the post of Harare mayor. Gutu told NewsDay Senior Parliamentary Reporter Veneranda Langa in a wide ranging interview on Tuesday that he had already started mobilising resources to improve water, road and other infrastructure in the city of Harare as he waited to be confirmed as mayor.

The following are excerpts of the interview between Langa (ND) and Gutu (OG).

ND: Congratulations for being nominated for the mayoral position by the MDC-T. If you get the position, what is your vision for the City of Harare?

OG: My vision for Harare is actually multi-faceted. As you know, Harare used to be called the “Sunshine City” during the ’70s to the ’90s as it was beautiful, clean and had good water and transport infrastructure, as well as a clean environment. The first thing that I will do if I get elected mayor is to ensure councillors and other stakeholders make sure the water supply is normalised and that Harare has clean and safe piped water 24 hours daily. There are some suburbs that have gone for more than five years without water and this is not a sustainable state of affairs. There is need for major infrastructure refurbishment at Morton Jaffray and at Kunzvi Dam. I want to ensure that the Kunzvi Dam project is completed. Once it is completed, each Harare resident will have access to clean, safe water around the clock.

ND: How are you going to be able to do that because the outgoing mayor Muchadeyi Masunda also wanted, but failed to have those projects completed?

OG: I am not one to shy away from challenges. The bigger the challenge, the more exciting the mayoral position becomes. As a new council, we will have to do massive resource mobilisation as soon as possible. Right now, I was already discussing with the Zimbabwe ambassador to Germany Hebson Makuvise to help us as the incoming Harare City Council to ensure we partner with four major cities in Germany. This will help us in our vision to refurbish water infrastructure, the road network, refuse collection and other service delivery issues. We also want to ensure there is an online billing and payment system so that people do not have to spend a lot of their time in queues. We want to use information technology systems with the help of these cities.

I am happy that Makuvise has already twinned the City of Harare to Munich. My focus is that twinning Harare with four other cities will result in a situation whereby one city helps us with refurbishing roads, the other focuses on waterworks, and so forth, so that potholes and other problems become a thing of the past.

ND: How do you feel about MDC-T’s recommendation to support your candidature as mayor ahead of elected councillors — some of whom had expressed their wish to become mayor?

OG: I am confident that those councillors will vote for me because the MDC-T is made up of disciplined cadres. It is the party that deploys its cadres and that they saw it fit to deploy Gutu as mayor is an honour. As an honest cadre, whatever the party says I should do I will do it enthusiastically. I do not see any reason why MDC-T councillor elects will not obey the instructions by the party.

ND: Are you not scared that you might become mayor of a city that has financial difficulties after cancellation of debts owed in water bills and rates?

OG: On the cancellation of debts, I understand it was only for individuals and not for companies. Those big corporations and government departments that owe local authorities should pay because they owe a lot of money. My law firm, Gutu and Chikowore, was mandated by the City of Harare to collect thousands of dollars owed by banks, big estate agents, companies and private individuals and if they pay, we will have enough resource mobilisation and debt recovery. Government should pay the debts it owes councils.

ND: What about the recent utterances by President Robert Mugabe that he will deal severely with Harare and Bulawayo residents for voting MDC-T? Are you scared of the threats?

OG: It does not scare me at all because we are supposed to be a constitutional democracy and that is why we have a multi-party system in this country where people are supposed to vote for a party of their choice. Once one is elected as President, they are President of any political party and every Zimbabwean. Some of these statements are just politicking and I do not want to read too much into them. If one took an oath to obey the laws of Zimbabwe, which Mugabe did during his inauguration, I do not see why one should be carrying out such threats.

ND: As a former deputy minister, would you say the mayoral position is a climbdown?

OG: I feel this is a promotion because over and above being a mayor, I will be chairing the Harare Metropolitan Council, which means I will be chairing all MPs in Harare. Obviously this is not a demotion, but a promotion.

ND: How much knowledge do you have of local government issues?

OG: To start with, I have been a resident of Harare for 33 years. I have properties and businesses ranging from the law firm Gutu and Chikowero which I have been running for 33 years. I have a satellite installation company, a security company and I am also into the hospitality industry. I am not only a lawyer, but a businessman as well and I see myself as having the capability to solve the problems of Harare so that it regains its status as the sunshine city. I have experience in Parliament and government and as someone who has been living in Harare for many years, I want to make it vibrant again.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP