Four years since the Government of National Unity (GNU) was formed, significant progress has been made in many areas, the most obvious one being the taming of the runaway inflation which was measured in billions before the formation of the coalition government.
Column by Linus Kadzere
The glaring failure of the coalition government though has been the overall failure in maintenance and updating of the infrastructure network in cities and towns across the country.
The electricity supply, water delivery and road network are in a state of dire disrepair.
The road network is in such a particularly bad way, so much that without urgent action being taken by the relevant authorities, some of the gains of the last four years will be lost. One of the essential ingredients of any successful and vibrant economy is its road network.
The pothole situation can only be described as a national menace and embarrassment. Most of the roads have not been resurfaced since independence. Some of the potholes are so large you can only describe them as gullies or craters.
The just-ended festive season saw a record number of casualties and fatalities on highways around the country.
But such record casualties and fatalities are actually recurrent, implying that someone is not doing their job and is not being held to account.
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As if that were not enough, the fencing along the highways has been looted, leaving livestock to roam our busy highways. There is no effort being made to replace the fencing. And worse, there are no notices to warn motorists of potholes or other dangers that lurk on our roads.
The worrying thing is that road users have taken to accept this situation as normal. Quoting the late Professor Masipula Sithole, people have resorted to “normalising the abnormal”.
Walking down First Street, which used to be the place to be when shopping in town, strange things are happening there too, and the pothole plague has not spared this pedestrian-only road, yes, potholes in First Street!
Has the mayor been to First Street of late? And if he has, what does he think about the state of disrepair in this once beautiful part of the city?
Surely, there are some people out there who are being paid and not doing their jobs — a clear case of dereliction of duty. Relevant government ministers, mayors and councillors in cities and towns around the country must explain to the people why they are not carrying out their mandate of making the cities and towns livable.
The “there-is-no-money” cliché is no longer an acceptable excuse. So many years of disservice is untenable — they should just leave those jobs if they clearly can’t get things done. Competent performers would find their way round.
There are loads of different taxes that are being levied from the citizenry such as tollgate fees, PAYE, etc that should be channelled towards eliminating this scandalous situation which affects motorists and pedestrians alike.
People are entitled to and must demand the best service from their leaders.
Slapdash filling-up of potholes is no longer good enough for most roads in Zimbabwe today. Complete resurfacing is required and this can only be achieved if there is political will to do so. There are many advantages to having a robust road network. For starters, there will be less carnage. Time is a finite resource which once lost, it cannot be recovered.
The amount of time wasted by motorists, commuters and business while dealing with the consequence of potholes is immeasurable. With a good road network, business will increase and this will in turn be good for the economy.
Motorists will not have to take their vehicles for maintenance caused as a direct result of potholes. Courage is needed and the government must rectify the problems on our roads as a matter of urgency. The carnage of the recent past years must not continue.
Perhaps Operation Pothole Eradication and Good Safe Roads may be a good starting point.
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