The Mutare and Chitungwiza Mayors have laid blame on the ZANU-PF led government and defaulting city residents for the sorry state of the main cities’ infrastructure and poor service delivery.
According to the mayors Blessing Tandi (Mutare) and Lovemore Maiko (Chitungwiza) who were speaking during The Mayors Forum programme, which is part of the ongoing Shoko Festival-hosted Hub Unconference, the country’s shambolic economy has also exacerbated the dilemma.
“Councils don’t operate in isolation. They are also affected when the economy is bad. Mismanagement may affect here and there but not to the same extent that its economy affects service delivery. Input into council’s fiscus by government that is mainly based on political interests also plays a role,” said Tandi.
While Chitungwiza Mayor, Maiko echoed the sentiments blaming defaulting residents.
“There is a culture of high service delivery expectance when a majority of residents are defaulting on their bills. It’s that money we need to run swift service delivery,” said Maiko.
Since 2000 the majority of urban councils have been under the opposition, Movement for Democratic Change’s supervision which has been blamed for failure to maintain public infrastructure.
