The state of roads in most surbubs in Harare is unbearable, this has been the cause of many road accidents. Permanent secretary of Information Cde Nick Mangwana had this to say about this issue:
The maintenance of city roads falls under the purview of Local Authorities (City Fathers). Since 2000, there has been evidence of serious ineptitude by these Authorities in a number of service delivery areas, which include, refuse collection, water treatment and supply, road maintenance and street lighting.
To alleviate the suffering urban dwellers, Govt started making interventions such as buying chemicals for water treatment, deploying the ERRP2 program for roads and EMA taking charge of refuse collection and the Geopomona Project.
There are always celebrations when Council Election Results are announced. Every ratepayer should ask themselves what they are really celebrating; these urban gullies in the picture?
In response to this other urban dwellers have questioned the power of the Mayor and how is the money redistributed after being collected by Zinara.
This is so because City councils says central government takes all the revenue from the vehicles that uses and wears out these roads
They point out that it’s ZINARA that is taking every cent and not repairing roads or remitting substantial amounts.
We can look at rural councils in places like Dande or Guruve where bridges are swept away every year and takes time to repair , the same issue is being faced countrywide.
For all councils to function properly there is need for political tolerance in urban cities and accountability in rural areas. Sabotage and greediness have always been recipes for disaster said A rural councilor in Guruve ward 10.
