The ongoing demolition of illegal car sales yards by the Harare City Council should be commended as it will restore sanity in the capital.
Editorial Comment
The latest crackdown has exposed serious cases of corruption by senior council officials who are alleged to have been receiving as much as $3 000 in “protection fees” from the illegal car dealers so that their businesses would not be forced to comply with the law.
This simply affirms how the culture of greasing palms has almost become the norm in Zimbabwe and a tradition over which eyebrows are no longer raised.
In August, council’s attempts to clean up the city were thwarted by rowdy Zanu PF youths in the name of indigenisation.
Popularly known as Sunshine City, Harare was beginning to lose its glitter and glamour due to the emergence of illegal buildings.
The challenge does not only lie with the car sales yards, but the city has also seen the mushrooming of illegal tuckshops, cottages, markets and undesignated home industries.
We urge the local authority to cast its gaze on these areas after they are done with the car sales.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
It is only through decisive action that Harare will be able to restore its status as a clean Sunshine City defined by order and sanity.
Those intending to operate businesses must do so within the confines of the law.
There are clear, laid-down city by-laws that have to be followed.
The business of people breaking the law because they have political backing must come to an end henceforth if we are to develop as a city and country.
No doubt the country’s unemployment rate is way too high, but this should not open doors for lawlessness.
What this shows is that corruption has become one of the country’s major challenges at almost all levels of our society.
We urge the mayor and city fathers to do the right thing and weed out corrupt officers within its ranks.
For as long as these corrupt elements remain within the city’s rank and file, then we are likely to see the persistence of these illegal structures.
Council must have strong structures so that it can police itself before it can police others.
Probably the only way to control corruption in the local authority is to introduce new legislation that criminalises such acts.
This will empower the police to react to allegations and treat such crimes as high priority.
While the operators might have genuine concerns probably to do with the slow processing of paper work, lawlessness should not be allowed to prevail.
