Story by Wellington Makonese
The Harare City Council is under fire for what ratepayers have described as extravagance after it decided to hold workshops outside the capital at a time Harare is grappling with the cholera outbreak.
Despite getting the flake from residents after spending around US$20 000 on a workshop late September, Harare councillors have yet again shown their penchant for spending after taking their other workshop to the resort town of Nyanga where an estimated US$24 000 has been blown.
The workshop, purportedly focusing on strategic thinking, comes at a time the capital city is battling the cholera epidemic and poor service delivery.
“The level of extravagance is getting out of hand. This is all reflective of the people we elect who have nothing else as a source of income but are there to create an opportunity to loot at the expense of the people, some who are sick some have lost their loved ones. Sewer is bursting no water,” said Harare Residents Trust director, Mr Precious Shumba.
Other resident representatives believe it’s high time they put matters in their hands to restore sanity.
“The City Fathers have shown us time and time again that they only care about fattening their pockets, they can’t deal with cholera they can deal with waste they just spend. I think it is high time government steps in or we are going to pull away our resources until order is restored. It’s not worth it to pay rates,” noted Zimbabwe National Organisation and Associations of Residents Trust national chairperson, Mr Shalvar Chikomba.
Harare Mayor, Councillor Lovejoy Chitengu referred the matter to the council spokesperson, Mr Stanley Gama who was not reachable.
A state of emergency was declared in Harare following death of dozens of people and over 7 000 suspected cases of cholera.
