Harare City must improve on stakeholder engagement

ONE of the most frustrating experiences residents have had with the City of Harare is that of arrogant and contemptuous council officials and councillors who take long to acknowledge or respond to issues submitted to them.

District officers and revenue officers in the communities are better.

Those officials housed at Rowan Martin Building, especially in the finance department and those at Town House are the most difficult to deal with.

They give excuse after excuse, eventually forgetting or neglecting to attend to residents’ concerns.

With regards to policymakers, very few of the councillors in office know how to communicate with residents religiously.

They feel too important and neglect to engage residents even on community WhatsApp platforms.

They do not answer calls. Bernard Manyenyeni and Muchadeyi Masunda are the only mayors who used to communicate with residents religiously.

The rest have been erratic, always paranoid and afraid to engage the electorate.

The electorate does not need arrogant leaders who want one-way communication, top-down approach all the time.

Communicating with council officials is a nightmare on all issues.

They want to be the ones directing their messages to residents, and care very little about the feedback from communities. Harare Residents

Trust