Suburban
THE Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA) is growing impatient with the City of Harare who are taking way longer than expected to conclude a refuse collection partnership deal.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
In an interview this week, BRRA chairperson Mr Robert Mutyasira said they are surprised by council’s reluctance when the proposed partnership could relieve them of the refuse collection burden in Ward 18 (Borrowdale) and Ward 42 (Hatcliffe), which they are currently struggling to do effectively with residents always complaining about piling garbage.
“Over the last six months we have been trying to activate a partnership in refuse collection with the (local) authority and a process that can and should have taken just a month is still going round in circles.
“This is a plan that could relieve the municipality of the burden of waste collection in Ward 18 as well as Hatcliffe. We are surprised by the timidity around concluding this arrangement,” he said.
The residents’ representative body made a call to the residents to help the body amplify their voice as they push for better service delivery from the City of Harare.
“We will say it again that a disjointed approach will cost us dearly. Our disharmony in addressing and advocating for service delivery will be manipulated and this will work against us,” said Mr Mutyasira.
In a recent interview, acting Harare mayor Councillor Stewart Mutizwa said in 2022 the municipality will have an open door policy on partnering with communities and they will try to complete all unfinished projects spilling over from last year.
“We are working closely with residents’ representative bodies, including the Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association where they are partnering council on a refuse collection project.
“This year we are working tirelessly to first complete unfinished projects and get into more partnerships,” said Councillor Mutizwa.
Last year, BRRA indicated it needed to raise US$15 000 to resuscitate broken down City of Harare refuse trucks and improve refuse collection in Wards 18 and 42.
The residents body initiated a plan to take over the repairing and maintenance of City of Harare refuse trucks on condition the trucks will be dedicated to collecting refuse in the Borrowdale and Hatcliffe (Ward 42) areas before they are deployed elsewhere.
Discussions have been underway between the BRRA and the City of Harare to craft a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which both parties will sign to pave way for the residents’ body to help the municipality revive the trucks and maintain them thereafter.
In an appeal to residents, the BRRA urged all Harare North ratepayers to take ownership of their communities and work together on this initiative as they will need to fundraise money for the repairs and maintenance of the refuse trucks.
“We can take the burden off CoH (City of Harare) shoulders for the time being allowing them to use resources in other critical areas in the wards. It is not going to be easy and we would want residents to participate in our fundraising activities.
“We acknowledge the relentless support we always get from corporates as well as individual sponsors and well-wishers within our wards but this time we would want all residents to take ownership.
“We shall have to fundraise for this initiative as close to US$15 000 is required just for the repairs and then the maintenance thereafter,” the BRRA said in a statement.
The residents’ body also urged ratepayers to keep paying their bills to capacitate council and facilitate mobilisation and allocation of resources for service delivery.
“Residents will have to continue paying their rates while we push for more resource allocation from the 25 percent retention of rates also still being negotiated.
“We would also want to ask residents to pay their annual subscriptions to the BRRA as some of the funds go towards such community programmes which benefit all people,” the BRRA said.
As part of the devolution policy, residents of Harare have been appealing to the City of Harare to release the 25 percent ward retention scheme from what ratepayers, in a particular ward, would have in paid in rates and other charges to fund development at the ward level.
Council introduced the scheme a few years ago but it has failed to take off either because ratepayers are not paying their dues in full/on time or where payments are being made council has not been releasing the funds.
The BRRA said refuse collection was one of the key services required by residents but due to frequent equipment breakdowns, the City of Harare’s fleet was depleted disabling the local authority from efficiently collecting garbage from households.
This has led to garbage piling up in the neighborhoods putting residents at risk of outbreaks of communicable diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhea.
In view of this state of affairs, the BRRA executive on behalf of the Harare North community is engaged in negotiations with the municipality in an effort to repair, adopt and maintain refuse trucks dedicated to Wards 18 and 42.
Ward 18 is made up of Borrowdale, Borrowdale Brooke, Helensvale, Glen Lorne, Umwinsidale, Greystone Park, Ballantyne Park, Colne Valley, Rolf Valley and surrounding suburbs while Ward 42 is made up of Hatcliffe.
BRRA says its work plan to adopt refuse trucks will be guided by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the body will thrash out with council.
