Cry beloved sunshine city

Harare residents yearn for the time when Harare was the place to be, a city which competed with best cities in the world in terms of orderliness and efficient service delivery. A city where water was available to every resident, refuse collection was followed religiously and roads were a marvel to travel on.   The reality now is of a city that has gone to the dogs.  Big egos, incompetence, corruption, wrangles of power have but wreaked havoc at the town house which has destroyed that which made the city exceptional.

Councillors who have been entrusted to run the affairs of the city are dealing with issues that are way above their heads, hence the shambolic state of affairs that has characterized the once sunshine city.
The city father have failed to enforce their own by-laws which has seen the proliferation of vendors in the once pristine streets of Harare. Vendors have become an eyesore and the city fathers have given up the fight after the vendors refused to occupy designated places for vending. The halfhearted attempts by the city fathers to re-locate vendors has seen them return on the city pavements with a vengeance. They now give municipal police some kickback to look the other way whilst their sell their wares in broad daylight.
Whilst vendors have become lords on the pavements, illegal taxis called mushika-shika  and combis have become lords on the roads. They pick and drop commuters willy nilly endangering other road users. Most of these have taken over certain intersections that out of three lanes one is left for other motorists. Some disregard road signs and go against the flow of traffic sometimes in the presence of municipal police. Some roads have become no-go areas for motorists or one risks have ones' car side-swiped by combi drivers that have no regard for road rules and regulations.

Service delivery has reached an all-time low. Some roads have become impassable because of potholes that have become a permanent features boasting of huge gullies that have destroyed many a cars. Rarely are these attended to hence, some unemployed youths have taken the role of repairing roads with stones and earth and demanding a token of appreciation from passing motorists.

Water has become a rare commodity in some Harare suburbs as its availability is a rare feat equated to an eclipse of the moon and the sun.  In place like Ruwa, Mabvuku, Msasa Park, water only feature on rare occasions that the taps have rusted and would need replacement if ever the situation is normalized.

Harare used to be ranked as one of the cleanest city in Africa and that ship has since sailed with refuse collection now as intermittent as the salaries of the council workers themselves. Harare is now featured of heap of waste at every corner endangering people lives with the even looming threat of cholera and typhoid.
The city fathers have nursed illegal settlements where land barons linked with council workers have parceled out land to desperate home-seekers, hence every open space in Harare is characterized with illegal settlements. It never rains for these poor souls as these are the same structures which the council has a knack to raze down when some council officials decide to do their work.

Street lights in some areas have not worked for a long time that this coupled with uncut grass has become hiding places for robbers and muggers who have terrorized Harare residents with impunity.  
Yes, the city fathers have destroyed Harare.

Councillors who have little educational background are given the mammoth task of stirring the ship that is Harare, the ship won't float. This was reiterated by Mayor Manyenyeni who said "I would favour the inclusion of a non-partisan, non-political basis of individuals with minimum key skills that are critical to our tour of duty," When this is not achievable or achieved through electoral processes, modalities for accommodating special skills councillors must be found". This has been the undoing of Harare, a case in point.

Recently, Harare deputy mayor Chris Mbanga sanctioned the disposal of three city properties through public tender in a bid to raise $20 million to pay salaries. This is despite Mayor Manyenyeni refused to authorise the sale citing that the city cannot sell its capital assets to fund an operational cost.  These are the kind of councillors that we expect to run the affairs of the city, individuals who are at their wits end as to turn around the fortunes of the once prosperous city. It's oblivious that nothing will come out of such caliber of people.
 
The city fathers are failing to harness funds from their businesses. Chairperson of council's audit committee, Enock Mupamawonde recently told a full council meeting that multiple leakages and corruption were costing the municipality a lot of revenue. Mr Mupamawonde indicated that the business licensing revenue has dropped by 17% from $7 million in 2014 to $5,8 million in 2016.
 
"The fall in revenue can be attribute to the high incidence of fake licences in the market and lack of enforcement on licences for businesses operating within Harare". The city fathers are failing to contain the leakages hence, their demotivated workers go for months without their salaries.

The incompetence and chaos is widespread in all council business ventures with the city parking which is one of the city major cash cow being in a shambolic state, with reports indicating that the city has two parallel billing systems that has causing a lot of confusion amongst motorists.  This chaos is no doubt also costing the city a lot of revenue. No wonder we read that the "water bill default tops 80%" as rate payers are also taking advantage of the weak systems by council being run by indolent, ineffectual  individuals.   

For those who have a little knowledge and sense, they suffer from huge egos that council business has been brought to a halt as a result. I am making reference to Mayor Manyenyeni's refusal to reverse the controversial appointment of James Makore, a development that have caused acrimony between the mayor and the Minister of Local Government, Saviour Kasukuwere. The Harare Resident Trust (HRT) recently accused council of self-serving interests at the expense of residents when council announced that it was not looking for another town clerk as Makore remains the chosen candidate. The HRT statement rightly pointed out "Egos must be set aside if progress is to be realized. The tragedy of Harare is that it is being led by people who believe that they have so much power and influence that they not care about public concerns. They just have to win every argument. That is not how cities are run."  

Why can't the city fathers emulate their counterparts in Bulawayo who are running the city with competence and efficiency that they recently appointed a Mr Christopher Dube as town clerk without any drama and the appointment has the approval of the Local Government Board.

It's disastrous when councillors who have such inflated egos and incompetence are made responsible for the running of the city, hence the collapse of the city as we have witnessed in Harare. Harare residents deserve better from the councillors that they have elected into office.  It's a wakeup call to the residents that not every Jack and Jill is competent to run the affairs of the city, due diligence must be exercised when electing some of these councillors, as we have no-one to blame but ourselves for having saddled ourselves with the caliber of people we have at the town house.