‘Don’t vote for political opportunists’

THE Harare Residents’ Trust is urging residents to vote for competent councillors with development at heart.

The current crop of councillors in the MDC-T run council has failed to deliver basic services to residents.

HRT director Mr Precious Shumba told The Herald on Wednesday that residents should elect candidates with community development skills.

“Residents have suffered a lot because of parties putting forward for election incompetent individuals whose main focus has been accumulation of residential and business stands, as well as corruption involving appointment of service providers to the city council,” he said.

“We are saying to the residents, do not focus on the political party the councillor is representing. They must focus on what benefits they would directly drive from the candidate in terms of policy decision-making, representation and facilitating community development.”

Mr Shumba said the majority of Harare councillors failed to represent the interests of the ratepayers in council committees and during full council debates.

“A lot of the councillors take their community roles as full-time jobs,” he said. “That is why in the HRT we are saying residents should elect people with a track record of community service, not political opportunists who are seeking to enrich themselves through their public offices.”

A Budiriro resident, Mr Winmate Tavedzerwa, said the current crop of councillors had let residents down.

He said roads were potholed, garbage was not being collected on time, while blocked sewer was the order of the day.