AS the umbrella organ playing the oversight role over the way Zimbabwean local councils discharge their mandate for service delivery, the Zimbabwe National Organisation of Associations of Residents Trusts (ZNOART) registers great concern over the way most local authorities have abrogated their national mandate of service delivery and now use their privileged positions to \u201cloot\u201d and \u201cline their pockets\u201d at the expense of service delivery.<\/p>\n
As such, ZNOART seeks to draw the attention of the nation to the unfortunate transformation of the country\u2019s local authorities into havens of corruption, poor water and sewerage systems, unplanned housing and parcelling of land and, above all, a foil to the country\u2019s trajectory towards Vision 2030.<\/p>\n
Through its network of representatives across the country\u2019s administrative local authorities, ZNOART continues to receive disturbing news about the rot that haunts many councils.<\/p>\n
One questions how on earth the local authorities in Karoi could have allocated a stand and allowed building of a house on top of the laid down pipes. Did the whole process follow laid down procedures? Is it by coincidence that the said case involved a Karoi Council employee? In Masvingo\u2019s Mucheke suburb, for example, there are questions that beg answers regarding the in-fills in the Government quarters adjacent the Chiefs Hall and those opposite Mucheke High School.<\/p>\n
One structure in red brick (at window level) is allegedly sitting on TelOne underground cables and water pipes, making one wonder how the allocation of this stand was done, and even that of all other in-fills.<\/p>\n
How on earth did the local authority in Masvingo allow the building of houses in the Victoria Range of Masvingo with no prior servicing done, with all homesteads relying on \u201csky loo\u201d facilities?<\/p>\n
From other cities, like Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare, ZNOART is inundated with calls for forensic audits to be conducted on the personal properties of former and long-serving council and municipal officials, with concerns that there are cabals which are lining their pockets through land parcelling and tender scams. How does a local authority decide to approach land use outside the provisions of the laid down procedures and blueprints?<\/p>\n
ZNOART is equally concerned with the way most residents have accepted water woes as a norm rather than an exception. To have people getting to 25 years of age in their locality of birth with no access to running water in this modern age is a mockery of the country\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n
In Masvingo, Bulawayo and Harare, residents have gone on for many years, yet the councils continue to charge exorbitant bills. In like terms, one is irked by the way councils rely on \u201cestimates\u201d for their billing system, thus prejudicing many residents. Without clean water, an urban area loses its lustre, but this has become the way of life in most suburbs of Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
With regards to service charges being hiked at a time most residents are reeling under the negative socio-economic effects of the Covid-19, it boggles the mind as to how the councils expect people to religiously meet these service charge obligations. To talk of penalties on those who fail to pay up bills and adding US$5 reconnection fees (as in the Masvingo City Council), alongside exorbitant parking fees (and penalty on defaulting motorists), yet most parking areas are not well marked in some cities and towns, is a thorn in the flesh for the cash-strapped residents.<\/p>\n
Pursuant to the foregoing, ZNOART calls upon all councils of Zimbabwe to conduct their affairs with impeccable professionalism and to abide by best global best practices on good corporate governance. All councils should be open to public scrutiny regarding how they spend the money paid from the sweat of the struggling residents. All expenditure done should be scrutinised and, if not justified, residents should demand accountability from their local authorities.<\/p>\n
In the spirit of national development, it is important that the parent Ministry of Local Government and Public Works takes measures to effect a \u201ccleansing\u201d process so as to sanitise the way councils discharge their mandate.<\/p>\n
Where necessary, restitutive justice should be done through legal processes by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) in all areas where reports of gross irregularities are raised.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AS the umbrella organ playing the oversight role over the way Zimbabwean local councils discharge their mandate for service delivery, the Zimbabwe National Organisation of Associations of Residents Trusts (ZNOART) registers great concern over the way most local authorities have abrogated their national mandate of service delivery and now use their privileged positions to \u201cloot\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[726],"class_list":{"0":"post-29901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-anti-corruption-commission"},"yoast_head":"\n