Kaelin Choto
Harare City fathers have been under fire recently as residents of the Sunshine City demanded at least a ray of the sun as evidence that they are still habitats of Zimbabwe’s once glamorous capital city; Harare. Things have proverbially fallen apart unabated as far as service delivery is concerned in Harare.
It doesn’t need an astronaut to interpret the stars and point out the grey areas that characterise the running of Zimbabwe’s capital city. Illegal and unusual structures continue to sprout unattended everywhere.
A combination of illegal settlements, illegal trading areas and undesignated commuter boarding have become the order of the day constituting the illegal structures. On the other hand, sewer reticulation, garbage collection and potholes equally make up a formidable force of unusual features that have become a norm in our societies.
The city authorities feeling the heat, introduced a raft of measures ranging from contracting private players in garbage collection to an overdrive of demanding dog taxes. Dog taxes yes, how dogs have contributed to the deteriorating service provision is a question for the other day though.
All the interventions come as an effort to save face by Harare City Council and its handlers after a political midget in the name of Jacob Ngarivhume, President of Transform Zimbabwe almost single handedly collected all the garbage and glory from the streets of Zimbabwe.
Ngarivhume in short defined what the electorate expected from those they would have elected. Like the Biblical Jacob, Ngarivhume was to soon win the hearts of many, a development that gave his fellow comrades at MDC Alliance a rude awakening call.
They soon dived into the mumble jumble to collect garbage and join in on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s clean up campaigns despite spiking the initiative when it was launched.
Copying is not bad, but overdoing the act can have serious repercussions as evidenced by the recent demolitions of illegal structures by City of Harare. Hordes of people were to be left homeless and without a means to livelihood as the MDC Alliance under the stewardship of Nelson Chamisa tried to close the gap stretched by President Mnangagwa and Ngarivhume.
It is like crushing the glimpse of the obvious to say the majority of councillors at Harare City Council are MDC Alliance and that they are literary in control of that authority. They are behind the steering wheel and calling the shots as they run the council.
As conveyor belts of lies to the world over, the MDC A has mastered the art of deception and are in a bid to sell the idea that central Government is in charge of HCC. Really? Just like the stolen election rhetoric, the ‘Government is in charge’ narrative they are harping and parroting it to cover up for their mess.
To bring back Harare to its Sunshine City status, it will certainly take a revolution, a revolution which involves the demolitions and a huge commitment of resources. Because of their politics of acceptance and populism, the MDC A is not ready to stomach the blame and would want to transfer the blame or responsibility.
They are not ready to accept and live through the ‘end justifies the means’ concept.
Demolitions in essence are the MDC A’s baby as they try to revive the Sunshine City status. They are trying to give a dog a bad name and let him hang; that is ZANU PF. But what we know is that the Alliance won the majority of constituencies in Harare. No amount of lies will take away that fact and that they are in charge.
The year 2023 is upon us and there certainly has to be some projects to show to the electorate. For the Alliance, the urban centres are the only place they can ever showcase their worthy. They are on it and are trying by all means to camouflage the ‘necessary evils’ that come with good governance.
Somebody needs to tell the MDC A that we are aware that like ‘Greek god Kronos, the revolution at times devours its own children’ and are also aware that accepting that would be disastrous political blundering, hence the effort to drag ZANU PF and Government through this revolution taking place at Harare City Council.
Ndozvakashatira kurera maproblems when you are certainly determined to address them, believe you me you risk becoming the devil’s first cousin as people would be so used to the illegal and unusual.
