'Our minutes should come through e-mail', councillors demand laptops

Harare's 54 sitting councillors are demanding laptops, saying the city was wasting a lot of money on office paper and not embracing technology. Full council and committee minutes are printed on bond paper and delivered to councillors' houses for their perusal before meetings.

But councillors feel they are overloaded with paperwork and would rather deal with council business electronically.

Special interest Clr Sasha Jogi initiated the debate when he said it was time every councillor should have a laptop.

He said if resources did not permit to buy  all the laptops at once, chairpersons of committees should be the first recipients.

"Our minutes should come through e-mail," he said.

Another special interest Clr Tariro Chikumbirike, said council was using a lot of paper, ink and resources to get the minutes to councillors.

"The whole world is going green. We will be saving if all the communication to us comes through e-mail," she said.

But Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Chombo had turned down the request citing costs.

Clr Peter Moyo urged Mr Masunda to use his vast network to source for the laptops.

Mr Masunda promised to source the laptops through his business connections.

However, while the councillors are demanding the laptops, the city does not have a functional website with which to communicate with its residents.

Meanwhile, city plans to publish a weekly council newsletter are at an advanced stage.

The first issue is expected to be  published during the last week of April.

Councillors have always complained that the city was not communicating fully with residents and ratepayers.