Residents associations have raised alarm following a prolonged silence from President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office, five months after a report detailing corruption within the City of Harare was submitted.
The report is an outcome of a commission of inquiry set up by Mnangagwa to investigate the metropolis' governance issues dating back to 2017.
The commission, appointed in May last year, was chaired by former High Court judge Justice Maphios Cheda.
It was set up to investigate financial management systems, audit compliance with the Public Finance Management Act and management of revenue generated through special vehicle companies and other outsourced arrangements.
It was also tasked to investigate the reasons behind the failure to establish an Enterprise Resource Planning system for the capital city and quantify losses incurred as a result.
Its mandate also included probing the procedures of management, sale, lease or transfer of the local authority’s properties to private entities and the convening of council meetings as well as adherence to the standing orders and rules in meetings by the local authority, among others.
The commission’s report was submitted to Mnangagwa in June, and more than three months later, the deafening silence has alarmed residents.
This comes despite revelations during the hearings that Harare was on autopilot.
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The residents' worry is justified.
Given that service delivery has collapsed after the hearings revealed the rot at Harare City Council.
The hearings exposed that some managers and councillors have turned the municipality into a piggy bank.
Storm drains are blocked, city roads are potholed and have been neglected, while refuse collection is erratic.
Streetlights stopped working a long time ago, exposing residents to mugging.
Under normal circumstances, the commission's findings should have jolted authorities into action.
There are unanswered questions arising from the government’s inaction.
What it worth the use of scarce resources to probe an issue that is not followed to the letter?
Has the probe exposed the blue-eyed boys? Were the findings unpalatable and did they not point to the need for the setting up of a commission to run Harare’s affairs as claimed by critics?
Zimbabwe has a history of setting up commissions and discarding their findings and recommendations.
The 2019 Uchena commission of inquiry into the sale of State land in and around urban areas unearthed massive fraud and theft of State land valued at US$3 billion by top politicians and individuals in Zanu PF.
Nothing has been done as land barons continue to wreak havoc, ripping off desperate homeseekers.
Illegal settlements are sprouting. Last year, the government was forced to intervene as Harare embarked on a blitz to demolish more than 5 000 houses built in illegal settlements across the city.
While the settlers got a reprieve, they are living on borrowed time after constructing houses on land reserved for essential public amenities and wetlands, given that 37 High Court orders obtained by Harare City Council still exist.
Mnangagwa must act on Cheda’s report to improve service delivery.
Residents are getting the short end of the stick despite religiously paying their monthly bills.
They should not be waiting forever. The glow needs to return to the once sunshine city.
