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Ruth Butaumocho African Tapestry
At first glance, there is very little that Harare, City of Munich, Nottingham (UK) and Cincinnati (Ohio, United States) and Durban have in common.

Perhaps save for Durban, the similarities between Harare and the other three cities are like light and darkness.
However, there is a common thread that runs through these cities — all the four at one time pledged to the closest bond of civic siblingdom. They were or are still twinned — whichever way comes first.

The most intriguing and fascinating one was the twinning arrangement between Harare City Council and the City of Munich, Germany’s third largest city with about 1,5 million inhabitants, closer to the former’s nearly two million.

The twinning arrangement which somewhat flourished under the stewardship of the former Mayor of Harare, Muchadeyi Masunda, gave hope to residents of improved service delivery in the capital, based on the assumption that councillors would learn one or two things on service provision and local government management from the Germans.

They hoped that the junkets between the two cities would bring the much needed knowledge and exposure in running municipalities in the 21st century.

During the zenith of the twinning arrangement several residents who gleaned the internet — and read about the vibrancy of the City of Munich began to dream big.

They began to visualise some of Harare’s areas turn into a colourful spectrum of shopping malls, clean streets and top-notch service delivery like that of this Bavarian city.

Eager to work with City of Harare, at one time the City of Munich gave the municipal €500 000 (US$640 000) worth of medicines and medical accessories that kept council’s health facilities going for 18 months.

However, years of poor service delivery, corruption, poor governance and Harare City Council’s lackadaisical approach to business could have taken a toll on such a promising arrangement.

Whether the relations still exist or not should not be a point of conjecture.
What is clear is that City of Harare did not learn anything nor master nuggets of wisdom from all the exchange trips between City of Munich and the former.

There is nothing to show for the exchange of notes between the two — if ever such an exercise took place — judging by the Harare municipality’s modus operandi on service delivery and its commitment (or lack of it) to improve the city’s outlook.

Corruption, poor service delivery, ad hoc planning, mismanagement of funds meant for the resuscitation of services across Harare continue to dog the City of Harare. Dry taps, uncollected garbage, potholes, unmarked roads, dark streets, burst sewage pipes, clogged drainage systems, open defecation in alleys, touting and street vending, among others, are all but pointers to the city’s collapsed service delivery.

Land barons, who are working in cahoots with some council employees, continue to wreak havoc in urban centres by creating parallel land authorities.

Years of mismanagement and corruption within the council have seen some of its operations grinding to a near-halt, forcing the Government to intervene to save the city from catastrophe.

In September, the Government had to take over renovations at Morton Jaffray Waterworks as well as writing off $135 million council’s debt to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) to ensure residents have access potable water, as well as facilitating the clearance of water treatment chemicals at the border after it turned out the city had only a few days of clean water left.

Barely two months after council got a lifeline from the Government, Zinwa and the District Development Fund (DDF), which offered technical assistance on work being done at Morton Jaffray Waterworks, senior council officials are again spending money on trinkets at the expense of service delivery.

As I pen this article, senior officials from the municipal are packing their bags for yet another junket to China, a trip that is expected to gobble over US$30 000. In addition to the trinkets, council is going to spend Z$230 000 to buy iPads for councillors.

All these spending sprees are taking place against a background of shortage of water treatment chemicals and a coterie of issues that need to be addressed. If anything, such decisions by a council that is mandated to look after the interests of its residents smacks of sheer hypocrisy, disdain and inept leadership.

The malaise that is at the centre of the MDC-run council has more to do with successive inept leadership that is out of depth when it comes to runing the city’s affairs.

It is sad that the people entrusted to steward the ship from the abyss are actually sinking it deeper into doldrums.
What is happening at Town HOuse council raises questions about the ability of the city fathers to run the municipal and serve the interests of the cosmopolitan population of over two million.

Apart from inept leadership, services have deteriorated to the point where residents have to get involved to ensure that most basic services are provided.

Various communities in the city have taken matters into their own hands.