By Prosperity Mzila
There is an old adage that says fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. This maxim rings true to most of our urban voters who are constantly casting their vote to a failed MDC party which has failed to deliver quality service, improve on existing infrastructure and provide adequate clean water and sanitation since it took over the urban councils from ZANU PF in the year 2000. What the urban voters fail to realise is that constantly voting for a failed party is tantamount to whipping a dead horse to perform beyond its ability.
It is time the urban dwellers considered performance over populism.
Since the year 2000, the MDC has had a hold on most urban councils and has done nothing to improve them except ensure they are run down to the ground through mismanagement and misappropriation of council funds. This has gone on for a while now, but what is most surprising is that the urban dwellers don’t seem to get that the horse they are whipping is dead and cannot deliver. It is time for the urban voter to consider service delivery for Councillors and Members of the House of Assembly candidates and not to be driven by spite or the need for change despite the consequences.
The water crisis that is being experienced in Harare is not new at all as the same situation once befell Harare residents under the guardianship of the then Mayor Elias Mudzuri in the year 2002 also from the MDC. The reasons for failure where basically the same as the ones being experienced now, that Harare City Council is failing to procure Lime and Ecol which is used for water purification. The failure in 2002 to purify water led to an outbreak of typhoid in Mabvuku. Today, the City is faced with the same situation where Mayor Herbert Gomba who is leading an MDC-led HCC has failed to procure the same chemicals leading people to be afraid that history might be repeating itself.
What the MDC-led councils in all urban areas are not telling the people is that they have misappropriated funds meant for the procurement of water treatment chemicals and converted it to their other interests such as procurement of personal issue vehicles for the top management teams. It has recruited more workers more-so along partisan lines, a situation that has led to a huge chunk of money being apportioned to salaries and allowances. The City Fathers have gotten into a habit of holding expensive out of their locality workshops, in resort areas that are expensive such as the Kariba resorts, Nyanga resorts, Victoria Falls and such other places where they pay huge sums of money under the guise of holding workshops.
In 2008 Harare was hit by a serious Cholera outbreak due to HCC negligence and misplaced priorities. They continue to put people’s lives at risk while they continue to spend the rate payers’ money with reckless abandon. This cannot go on without reproach. It’s high time the City fathers took responsibility of their actions. In the last quarter of 2018 Harare was once again hit by another cholera outbreak that killed almost 80people. It is the responsibility of City fathers to ensure that another outbreak does not occur, by ensuring that every household in Harare has access to running water in order to avert people from turning to unsafe wells for their drinking and domestic purpose use. If this situation is not given the seriousness it deserves dire situations can be expected.
It is unfortunate that with the rampant corruption that has bedevilled the MDC party from the onset, people seem to sweep all its faults under the carpet and continue to vote in their favour yet continue to wallow under its guardianship. The people need to realise that street lights, roads, uncut grass along the roads, sewer and water reticulation systems have not been improved nor have they been maintained. The dilapidation of the infrastructure under the care of the MDC has provided fertile grounds for robberies, poor vehicle suspension, water-borne diseases such as Typhoid, Cholera and Malaria. What positives do people expect will come out of the MDC if it is to be given the mandate to run the whole country, given the party is dismally failing at small constituencies such as its run urban councils?
