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It does not take much talent, less so the proverbial mastery of the science of robotics, to note that the state of Harare City Council and many other urban councils has deteriorated rapidly since the early 2000s. There is a combination of issues that have led to this but the one outstanding factor is because of the leadership of the opposition MDC-T that has dominated urban local governments.

This is more than a coincidence.

The polarisation of the political field has led to people voting along political lines rather than selecting men and women of integrity and capability who can run and administer local government.

And as for the MDC-T, the basic qualification has apparently been the capability to throw stones at Zanu-PF or shouting the loudest slogans denouncing President Mugabe – nothing else.

And we saw that in most parts of Harare and Chitungwiza where some known hooligans were made councillors and even MPs – with devastating results of course!

We now know that Harare is at its dirtiest under the leadership of MDC-T councillors, with all that is wrong with poor refuse collection, sewage treatment and lack of provision of water and other services all down to the incompetence of the men and women of that party.

They have even compromised the health of the city leading to the regular outbreaks of preventable diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Harare and Chitungwiza have suffered unprecedented levels of corruption and illegal land deals under the leadership of the MDC-T which has breached lows such as stealing orphans’ and widows’ houses.

Much worse, and immoral too, the MDC-T officials have parcelled out land that was meant for recreational purposes such as football grounds and fun parks.

They have also gone to the extent of expropriating land that was meant for churches and crèches.

Chitungwiza has stood out notoriously out on this one and has a dubious reputation of having the most “infill” stands which have been pegged where there was every open space.

Today some parts of Chitungwiza are unrecognisable from what they were “in the year 2000 since they have been invaded by “infills”.

And what is worse, these infills add to the pressure and weight on resources that already were under severe strain hence the incessant power surges and water cuts.

The chaos that is Harare’s streets where touts, mshika-shika and vendors are dominant is all because of the poor planning and inability to enforce by-laws by the opposition-led council.

It was Harare Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni who did well to expose some of these charlatans masquerading as councillors.

A few moons ago he rapped them for lacking education and qualifications to enable them to execute their mandates smoothly, a fact that his predecessor Muchadeyi Masunda agreed with.

As we noted in one report in this paper, successive MDC-T-dominated councils have been responsible for presiding over the chaos in Harare manifest in flagrant disregard for city by-laws, proliferation of illegal settlements, the kombi and pirate taxi menace as well as the vendor problem that made city pavements impassable.

Here is Manyenyeni in that candid expose: “In 1927 Harare had two lawyers in council, nearly 90 years later the entire country has only one lawyer out of the over 2 000 councillors.

“I would favour the inclusion on a non-partisan basis of individuals with minimum key skills that are critical to our tour of duty,” he said.

“Specifically, no less than one third of the City Fathers must be able to present strong credentials in business, academia, engineering, law, finance and health, among others. When this is not achievable or achieved through the electoral process, modalities for accommodating specially skilled councillors must be found.”

He noted the toxic nature of councillors being chosen on a narrow, partisan manner.

“I would prefer non-political actors with expertise. You can’t expect me, for example, to supervise (the Harare City Health Director) Dr (Prosper) Chonzi when I am not a doctor and when I don’t know the difference between aspirin and ARVs,” he said.

Manyenyeni was right – and almost got lynched by his angry counterparts who felt the sting in the tail.

But the truth had been said.

Amid the rot that has spawned from the control of urban councils by the opposition MDC-T party, the party has itself shown to be a dangerously myopic and corrupt entity that has little interest in doing the right things.

There is nothing that demonstrates this better than the party’s directive to its councillors and administrators to block a forensic audit at Harare City Council-owned firms and joint ventures recently.

The companies are run down and The Herald reports that the entities have never declared a dividend to council, raising fears of either mismanagement or looting.

It is clear that MDC-T has everything to hide – and it is doing so in a patently criminal way in preventing the constitutional office of the Auditor-General from carrying out a forensic audit.

And it becomes not only criminally fishy but pathetic when the MDC-T deploys its hardworking spokesman Obert Gutu who feels that it is a witchhunt by the minister responsible.

“(Minister Saviour) Kasukuwere has got no business ordering the city council what to do or what not to do,” he blusters.

“He has absolutely no constitutional mandate and/or basis to order that particular audit. This is a witch-hunt. We know it. He is motivated by utmost bad faith. He has got ulterior motives. The MDC will not allow Kasukuwere to have his cake and eat it.”

So the MDC-T as a party does not lose sleep that these companies have never declared any dividends and are being run down and cannibalised?

So the party would rather the companies – and the city at large – rot to the core simply because of political brinkmanship?

Is this the spirit that informs the party’s choice of leaders, including their top man – as we noted above about stone-throwing activists that are made councilors? It also now needs an interrogation into the corrupt and incestuous nature of the said companies and the MDC-T.

A good guess is that these companies are most probably being used as vehicles to loot ratepayers’ money to run Harvest House.

This is where the panic comes from.

The party knows that the Auditor- General will unearth a lot of irregularities that will not only expose incompetence that the likes of Manyenyeni and Masunda have decried, but also how these companies are being used to launder money to sustain Tsvangirai and his band.

It now remains for authorities to be keenly interested in the matter for the good of the capital.

Harare does not belong to the MDC-T and its hawks at Harvest House whence they are said to be controlling the city.

It is our city, too!