Residents speak on 2013 City of Harare and National Budget

Please note, some comments have been translated from Shona to English

Simbarashe Moyo – Budiriro (CHRA chairperson)

Harare city Council needs to improve in terms of planning, revenue generation and implementation of service delivery. This calls for a multi-stakeholder approach which involves residents, N.G.Os, government and the private sector. The need to wholly rely on ratepayer’s money in sustaining the operations of council must come to an end. Harare City Council Should stop harassing residents who do not have money demanding payments and attaching their property, but instead should come up with a strategy which deliberately targets government departments which have not been able to pay its dues by now. The City should come up with a shared vision between residents and the City fathers in order to avert a crisis of mistrust between the two, in fact joint planning sessions would be good especially at ward level because it cultivates a culture of ownership on the part of residents.

Charles Beni –Highfield (CHRA Secretary)

It is important for the City of Harare to consider the issue of water seriously because people are complaining very much in terms of the quality and quantity. It remains to be seen whether the promises that have been coming from town house will indeed convert into action because for a record third year alone we continue to work with a flat budget not withstanding the one positive thing that this budget has not been revised up or downwards. It has tried to address some of the concerns but is not clearer in terms of it being able to avert the service delivery challenges that we see every day in the ward.

Neta Ndaba-Glenview (CHRA Membership Chairperson)

Each and every time we are consulted, there is always a proposal of increasing the money that is paid towards refuse collection but ironically we have uncollected refuse piles that have accumulated at glen view 1 and three shops. This is not an acceptable thing if council can’t collect refuse why don’t they just outsource an external company to do that on its behalf? It is always a pain to go to a budget process that you obviously know that what you are planning is simply building castles in the air.

Leslie Kagoro-Mabvuku-Tafara (CHRA Chairperson Environment Committee)

The good thing about this year’s budget is that it remains constant although we still have issues on whether the service we a getting are commensurate with what we pay to council. This process of consulting residents should not be an open-end process but should be a continuous process that is done at least quarterly. We need to know whether the money we pay to the City is being put to good use. We do not expect to see councilors being active only during the budget consultations only but should be the center of budget discourse (income and expenditure) enquiry.

Ms E.Masaraure-Sunningdale (Ward Coordinator)

The budget issue is something that we have been attending since I joined CHRA in 2003. What really shocks me is that we go there but come implementation there is nothing that really reflects what we would have had agreed at our meetings. I also am tempted to think that these meetings are just a mere window dressing event that is meant to silence our continued noise and demand for civic engagement. However, I was deeply impressed when I realized that the maternity fees had not gone up because the Mayor had come out in the media threatening to increase maternity fees. As women we feel that the need to continue to engage the local authority in order to force them to comply with the government directive which compels them to scratch off the maternity fees with go a long way in assisting the poor who can’t afford even the current rates.

Rhoda Fryer-Avondale-(WARD Chairperson)

We should commend the city in terms of service delivery. I say this because if you look at the condition of service delivery especially here in Avondale before the current council, it was really bad from the roads to refuse collection. However I believe that the current budget can go a long way in restoring our sunshine status especially if the government can assist the council with resources to deal with issues like water infrastructure and its purification processes.

Sydney Zata-Dzivarasekwa (Ward Coordinator)

What we always hear people discuss concerning the budget is always about water. However, if you take a tour of Dzivarasekwa apart from water problem you will realize that H.C.C has sort of neglected us here because the housing and general sanitation issues are our main concern. Yes we can talk of refusing being collected and roads being patched but we can’t ignore that child which does not have a roof on their head or a toilet in their yard. We have raised these and other issues during previous budget consultations but as I’m speaking to you right now, there has been no improvement. We have houses that do not have toilets and taps here in Mabvuku. If anyone doubts this tell them to call me and I will take a tour of Dzivarasekwa with them. Harare City council needs to budget for the construction of toilets and the erection of taps as well.

Tendai Muchada-CHRA Information and Communications Officer

While we applaud the City of Harare for engaging in a budget framework commonly known as “Results/Performance based budgeting, we remain worried because the city has no set targets as we speak. Results-Based Budgeting (RBB) comes as a strategic public-management tool that focuses on improving resource management and public sector accountability. It increases accountability and transparency in the administration of public funds directly through the attainment of set goals. Results based budgeting is a broad term for a type of budgeting used almost exclusively by public organizations, such as branches of local and central government and programs that governments create. The goal is to create a flexible budgeting system in an area where finances, funds and political agendas are constantly changing. As a result, RBB focuses on targets rather than limits and makes it easy for plans to accept sudden changes. Inspired by the idea of targets, it is sad to note that the City does not have a clearly defined strategic plan in place. According to the Chamber secretary, HCC is currently finalizing its strategic plan which forms the basis of a vague process with which the current budget has been embedded upon. Without doubt, efforts to consult residents and broader stakeholders can be objectively tracked (without getting into process detail) given the public notices of budget consultations. The problem only comes when council argues that it is formulating a budget from nonexistent targets/strategic plan.

Mfundo Mlilo-CHRA Director

Government must recognize the limited capacity of the City of Harare to deal with the water situation in Harare. I have already written to Minister of Finance Hon. Biti to consider budgetary support for water infrastructure for Harare. It puzzles me that a City like Harare does not have an approved development plan. Their budget will never work and address the pressing needs of the residents of Harare because the spending and fundraising is not guided by a development plan.