Harare, (New Ziana)- Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe has condemned local authorities for being incompetent to the extent of failing to provide even basic services such as garbage collection in their areas of jurisdiction.
Responding to questions posed by legislators in the National Assembly, Garwe also cited failure to manage waste by the Harare City Council as another example of incompetence by local authorities. “We have a serious problem with the performance of the local authorities, Harare in particular – that is why we have got a Commission of Inquiry to deal with the issues of Harare.
If a local authority as huge as Harare fails to collect garbage or decides to throw rubbish everywhere else, that is part of the incompetence. If a council like Harare fails to produce a budget and up to now, they have not produced the budget.
If a local authority like Harare fails to produce a masterplan, I can go on and on. I am not generalising. If the local authorities are incompetent, they need regeneration,” he said. Asked if the government has plans to retool local authorities, Garwe said: “There is no substitute for incompetence. We cannot continue to plough resources to local authorities that are being run by incompetent, inefficient and ineffective councillors.”
He said as a stop gap measure, the Government has put in place devolution funds to assist local authorities in ensuring that they can buy equipment to service roads and collect garbage. “As we speak, every local authority has been provided with fire tenders by the Government.
We have bought ambulances and tractors for our local authorities. Harare has been given 24 tractors to assist them with the carrying of solid waste but be that as it may, the Ministry of Local Government, three weeks ago, started Operation Chenesa Harare Phase 2 to assist Harare which has collapsed entirely with the collection of waste in the city.
We are doing the same programme next week with Chitungwiza which is also in a sorry state in terms of service delivery,” he said. Chikanga Member of Parliament, Lynette Karenyi suggested giving back to mayors the executive powers they had as a solution to address challenges associated with seeking government authority on all decisions.
But Garwe insisted that incompetence was the major challenge stifling council operations. “The issue is not to do with where authority is resident; it is incompetence. We have councils; you cannot employ a hyena to look after your goats. That is the situation that we have. It is not about people but it is about people who are not competent to deliver for the people,” he said.
New Ziana