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Zimbabwe's Elections 2013 - Index of Articles
Chombo’s directive on councils irrational
Movement
for Democratic Change
July
23, 2013
The MDC notes
with great concern the populist directive made this week by the
caretaker minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development,
Ignatius Chombo in ordering
local councils to write off debts owed by the residents in all
urban and rural councils.
While the MDC
understands the plight of residents and sympathises with them for
the hardships they are facing in failing to pay their bills because
of mismanagement and corruption of the Zanu-PF government, we note
with concern the timing of Chombo’s directive.
It is not a
genuine directive meant to benefit the suffering people of Zimbabwe
but it is a Zanu-PF campaign tool as it has realised that the people
of Zimbabwe are going to punish them on 31 July for mismanaging
the economy over the last 33 years.
If Chombo’s
Monday directive was genuine, it should have been made in 2009 before
the formation of the inclusive
government and when the people of Zimbabwe were facing a serious
cash crunch due to the hyperinflationary environment that had been
brought about by Zanu-PF’s scorched earth policies.
Chombo’s
directive will cripple the day to day operations of the local councils
as most of the people who have highly inflated bills are senior
Zanu-PF officials including Chombo who owns hundreds of properties
across Zimbabwe that were acquired under controversial circumstances.
It is the culture
for Zanu-PF officials not to pay their bills and rates and at the
beginning of this year, Mugabe and his Grace owed ZESA US$300 000
while ministers from his party owed the power utility similar amounts.
The decree by
Chombo is similar to Zanu-PF’s policy of 2006 when it forced
retail shops to slash their prices, a directive that led to unavailability
of basic commodities, closure and loss of jobs to thousands of people.
Chombo is known
for making bankrupt policies and in 2009; he refused to comply with
an MDC directive to dismiss councillors from the MDC who had been
fingered in corruption by the party and dismissed.
The non-compliance
on the MDC’s decision by Chombo led to Robert Mugabe regretting
the decision at a rally in Chitungwiza last week.
For years Chombo
has been unnecessarily meddling in the affairs of councils that
are mostly managed by the MDC to the point that service delivery
such as availability of water and refuse collection has been seriously
affected. Chombo has once again proved that he is the biggest problem
in local governance.
Chombo should
know that for residents to have better service delivery there is
need to pay their bills, which is a source of revenue for councils
and failure to do that will result in the decline of this and expose
residents to diseases.
As the MDC our
position is that social services such as local governance play a
critical role in a functioning society and ensure that all local
authorities have technical means and resources to provide adequate
water, sanitation, refuse collection, energy and better roads.
Chombo should
know that what the people of Zimbabwe need are not populist policies
but jobs and a service oriented local council. People need the provision
of affordable service delivery which is an imperator in the next
MDC government’s overall development agenda.
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