Harare mayor admits failure
HARARE Mayor Councillor Bernard Manyenyeni last week admitted that he has failed to turnaround the fortunes of council.
In an interview with The Herald Clr Manyenyeni said there were no resources to provide basic services for residents.
Residents expected him to be able to mobilise the resources and provide them with satisfactory services.
“In general, there is need for Harare residents to see that there are no funds available for most of the projects that we as the council would want to do,” he said. “Our hands are tied.” Clr Manyenyeni cited resource shortages.
“We do not have resources and that is why the roads are not being maintained and there are instances where the garbage is not being collected,” he said. “It is not because we do not want to, but it is because sometimes the trucks won’t have fuel.” Clr Manyenyeni had earlier posted a controversial status on social media.
The post read: “There are very few people who can competently evaluate the performance of Harare City Council and/or any of the actors involved in it — past and present. It is a task for the informed. The rest of us use emotions, expectations, assumptions and guesswork.”
Clr Manyenyeni told The Herald that Harare residents must take into account the root cause of problems affecting the city.
“Residents need to find out about the background of a problem and to do so they should engage their councillors,” he said. “That is what they are there for.”
The MDC-T runs Harare City Council which has been blamed for neglecting the plight of residents and superintending over the deteriorating situation in the city.