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Stanely Mushaya
THE mainstream perception that politics is the convergence of promise and peril can be ratified in light of the day to day struggles of multitudes at the base of the class pyramid. Such is the cyclic tragedy in local government that the electorate is courted on the path to power only to be anathemised as a liability once across the electoral threshold.

Harare City Council has long epitomised this condition, with a history strong on corruption and self-aggrandisement by officials, juxtaposed with a lukewarm obligation to service. Residents justifiably feel ripped off for facilitating the accession and upkeep of successive councils whose officials major on the primitive accumulation of property and are at home with public relations at the expense of tangible delivery. A range of crises, chiefly shortage of potable water, public toilets, street lighting, ambulances, commuter holding bays, dilapidation of infrastructure and wayward sewage have not only dented the functionality of the council but also imperilled public health and safety.

Each new budget presentation promises a fresh stimulus towards the mitigation of these problems, but, alas, residents will only see the solutions deferred, problems elongated. Capital and revenue estimates for 2014, captured in the council’s US$369,3 million budget presented on November 8, grapple with these issues, but the city must outgrow a tardy work ethic and urgently tap into service mode, if the promises are to be actualised.

While the budget shows an astute engagement with woes assailing residents, it is regrettable that several years are being expended in addressing familiar problems, turning the chapters of suffering rather than closing the book, as someone once said, instead of instituting new developmental initiatives. The council must not allocate itself the privilege of private enterprises to lay objectives over spatial durations, since it is mandated with the immediate interests of residents. If Rome was not built in a day, Harare must refuse to be part of the project.

Short of a conscious transition in this respect, the council will remain troubleshooting than a groundbreaking entity, much to the disservice of development.

Notwithstanding the chaos which characterised the meeting, local government must be commended for soliciting residents’ contributions through pre-budget consultative forums. This is a positive step in the right direction. A top-down approach to council business forfeits the dictum of “No development for us without us”.

The larger part of Harare is dry, with some suburbs resorting to shallow wells as water has become too posh a privilege for ordinary people. Water shortage has become a perennial problem by virtue of generous annual extensions the successive councils are allocating themselves.

Key is to prop council officials must be from lapsing into a comfort zone.

That being said, it is pertinent to take the various problems derailing the council from fulfilling its mandate into account. Pumping capacity has been reduced due to the unreliability of seven out of 14 pumps at Morton Jaffray.

To compound the city’s woes, 30 percent of water produced at the Morton Jaffray and Prince Edward treatment works is lost through leakage due to the age of the network which is hard to service because of its 6 000 kilometres length. Hefty commercial water losses, due to illegal connections, faulty metering and water thefts are also to blame. Water treatment chemicals currently gobble up US$3 million per month and the Department of Water and Sanitisation targets to reduce the runaway expenditure in the new budget.

“A number of cost cutting and revenue enhancing measures will be instituted in the ensuing year including cleaning the database, increasing the customer base, improving metering and equipping the pumps at various water pumping stations with soft starters to reduce power consumption which currently stands as US$1 200 000 per month,” said Finance and Development Committee Chairperson Councillor Markham in his budget presentation. “The rehabilitation of Morton Jaffray and Prince Edward water works, Firle and Crowborough sewage treatment works alongside the procurement and installation of clear water pumps at Warren Control, Alexandria Park, Letombo and the supply of Information Communication Technology equipment funded by a Chinese loan will ultimately increase water production from the current 450 to 650 mega litres per day, and reduce non-revenue water to below 35 percent.

“Waste water treatment will be expected to go up from 72 to 219 mega litres per day with corresponding reduction in the cost of water treatment chemicals,” he said.

Fixed charges have been marked down from US$5 to US$4 for domestic water in high density areas, from US$11 to US$9 in low density areas and from US$80 to US$50 in industrial and commercial areas. Sewer charges per fitment have gone down from US$5 to US$4 in high density, US$11 to US$9 in low density areas and US$15 to US$13 in industrial and commercial areas. The council is to be commended for considering the complaints of residents about high tariffs, taking note of the debilitating “start up” costs faced by home industries.

Resident representatives have called for the fixed charges for water to be scrapped off altogether considering that other residents are no longer getting any water at all.

“The council’s budget has not addressed the issues of fixed water charges as we proposed, neither has the council fully addressed the question of residents’ ability to pay the rates proposed, which are in essence similar to what they have been paying in the last three years,” said Harare Residents’ Trust director Mr Precious Shumba after the presentation of the budget.

The failure of the council to avail audited results to residents also raises issues of legitimacy which the council must fend off by committing to accountability. It is an ethical imperative for the council to take a break from perks and make good its commitments.