Suburban
WARD 17 residents are this weekend expected to finally bring to fruition their long-cherished idea of forming a residents’ association to help lobby for service delivery in the ward in the face of lack of service delivery.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
The residents will meet on Saturday June 25, 2022 at the Kingdom People’s Church at 10am at Number 111, The Chase in Mt Pleasant to elect the inaugural leadership of the Mt Pleasant-Vainona-Northwood-Pomona Residents Association.
Residents have been encouraged to be part of the meeting and contribute towards the development of Ward 17.
“We are trying to form a Mt Pleasant Residents Association. We have scheduled the meeting to appoint office bearers and chart the way forward. The meeting will commence at 10:00 at Kingdom People Church at Number 111 The Chase,” said Mt Pleasant resident and neighbourhood watch committee member Mr David Panganai.
Mt Pleasant Member of the National Assembly Mr Samuel Banda said the formation of a resident’s representative body in Ward 17 was long overdue and the body will provide a development roadmap for the area.
“The formation of the Mt Pleasant Residents Association is a long overdue development which we all happily welcome. We bless this association as it is created to bring about apolitical oversight and development within the zone for which it was created for,” said Mr Banda.
Flyers shared on residents’ social media platforms invited residents of Mt Pleasant, Vainona, Northwood and Pomona to attend the meeting.
“Notice to residents. The formation of a new residents’ association. Are you a resident in Mt Pleasant, Vainona, Northwood or Pomona? You are invited to join the Mount Pleasant Vainona, Northwood and Pomona Residents Association at their inaugural election. The primary purpose of the standing committee shall be to consider and recommend actions in Ward 17 which covers our areas,” reads the flyer inviting residents to the meeting.
It further states that the functions of the committee will include representing suburbs under Ward 17 on behalf of residents who live in these suburbs as well as other stakeholders in the community.
The invitation says the residents shall form a committee either by volunteering or an election which will then meet and elect a chairperson.
The committee will also formulate and adopt a constitution to guide the operations of the residents’ association.
It will allocate portfolios to committee members and call for the first residents’ meeting both in person and virtually via Zoom.
Ward 17 covers Mt Pleasant, Groombridge, Vainona, Pomona, Borrowdale West, Mt Pleasant Heights, Arundel and Northwood.
Of late Ward 17 residents have been pushing the formation of residents’ trust or association to help lobby for service delivery in the ward in the face of lack of services from the terribly struggling City of Harare.
Most residents in Mt Pleasant, Arundel, Northwood, Vainona and parts of Pomona have not been receiving council tap water for more than a decade or close to two decades in some cases. The residents have been bitterly complaining about the City of Harare’s failure to collect refuse yet they pay their dues every month.
Some have resorted to hiring g private companies to collect their garbage in the wake of the failure by council to offer the service.
Residents have also been for calling for decentralisation under which Ward 17 should retain a percentage of the rates and service charges paid by residents for exclusive use in the ward.
A few years ago, the City of Harare introduced the ward retention scheme under which wards were supposed to retain at least 25 percent of the revenue generated in that ward through rates and service charge payments.
The money will be allocated for service delivery and developmental projects in the wards with the residents, councillors and the municipality cooperating on coming up with priority service delivery issues or development projects needing funding.
In their discussions, residents believed decentralisation could be the answer to the current service delivery woes.
The residents noted that the centralisation of services had led to the crumbling of services in cities and towns as ratepayers who religiously pay their rates and bills were subsidising the perennial defaulters.
The one city concept had destroyed service delivery in cities and towns, the residents further argued saying each ward should have its own distinct budget.
Since Mt Pleasant residents were already maintaining their own roads without the help of the City of Harare, cleaning up and putting up road signs, residents said they should adopt the Borrowdale Brooke model to deal with service delivery issues. The Borrowdale Brooke Estate manages its own services under the banner of the Borrowdale Brooke Home Owners Association which is part of the bigger Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA).
