RESIDENTS of Harare are complaining about poor service delivery each day. For a long time, Harare City Council has failed to provide basic services to most parts of the capital. Areas like Mabvuku have endured dry taps for long. And for more than two decades, Harare had no infrastructure policy, no city planning, and no maintenance of facilities. Street lights are a thing of the past. Harare City Council’s much-touted projects like the holding bays, suffered stillbirths. They failed to serve their purposes. There has been blame game between the political parties, one party blaming the other, the mayor blaming Zanu PF, and Zanu PF blaming MDC Alliance. Nothing is new though, from the controversial Elias Mudzuri’s days to Muchadeyi Masunda conflict era. Today, we hear there are two mayors and two town clerks, burdening ratepayers. The saddest part is that when it comes to performance, none of them has done anything tangible. Had they performed well, Harare would have moved forward. Zimbabwe is running short of leaders with integrity. Four grown underperforming men are holding on to positions of power at the expense of service delivery. They would rather explore all possible legal avenues to cling to a job they are failing at. It has become fashionable to have people occupying positions, but not performing and claim hefty perks after they are fired for incompetence. This puts into question our recruitment policy. Harare is one of the most underdeveloped cities by 21st century standards. People should fight over implementation of development projects and not positions. The government is also complicit in this maze. It claims to be restoring order, suspending mayor Jacob Mafume on allegations of corruption, but then create a disaster afterwards. Both parties compete for recognition, using any means to achieve that. But in the midst of their fights, residents suffer the most. It’s high time Zanu PF and MDC Alliance find common ground and do what’s good for the public. Yes, they are fighting to outdo each other in politics, but they should realise we elected them not to play the game blame, but to co-ordinate activities for the good of the public. The town clerk must be hired on merit and prove himself on the job. Right now, Harare is infested with wells, diminishing city standards — a situation that has escalated for decades. It’s high time the MDC Alliance and Zanu PF found common ground to improve the lives of the people that voted them into power whom they claim to serve. Let them disagree on other things, but not on issues that affect the populace. The majority of us know what needs to be done, but political parties feel they have the right to dictate to the public, causing confusion and chaos in the process.
