Suburban
THE Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA) has once again urged all Ward 18 residents to join the residents’ representative body and champion their rights together as a formidable force.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
The association says residents have rights and the city officials, many of whom do not reside in Ward 18, will never experience what they go through so the situation needs the affected residents to formally gang up, stand up and fight for services.
Ward 18 covers Borrowdale, Borrowdale Brooke, Glen Lorne, Greystone Park, Helensvale, Quinnington, Philadelphia, Hogerty Hill, Rolf Valley, Umwinsidale, Crowhill and Carrick Creagh and the BRRA is appealing to residents of these suburbs and surrounding areas to join the body and be part of their membership.
BRRA chairperson Mr Robert Mutyasira said unless and until residents support the cause of their residents’ association by becoming a part of it and empowering it financially, they will always be victims of abuses by local authorities.
“Once again, we find ourselves in a place where we must sensitise residents of Ward 18 on the need to mobilise ourselves into a formidable force if we are to ever realise the transformations we aspire.
“World over, local authorities are not the easiest bunch of people to deal with especially when the people they serve are uninformed and unrepresented.
“For many years, residents in Harare and other cities have been short changed and left in the gutters with little or no service delivery to talk about.
“Abnormal situations have, unfortunately, been accepted as normal and people are living in the most awkward environments while slowly adapting to this rampant abuse,” he said.
The BRRA leader said residents’ silence helps the councils to dodge ratepayers’ scrutiny.
“The silence of residents is the power of these authorities and the fragmented advocacy we see is not helping the situation either.
“Sporadic groups approaching the City of Harare without solid understanding of by-laws and the constitutional rights of residents will not bring the change we all want.
“There is, however, a relentless group of people who meet every month to deliberate on matters that affect residents. In between their meetings, they are busy implementing the resolutions emanating from the meetings. They do this voluntarily using their time and resources.
“Their only interest being to create a better living environment for residents in the best way they can. They are equipped with the knowledge, understanding, institutional memory of the ward and need I say the requisite fearless aggression to demand for what the local authority must deliver to its rates paying residents,” said Mr Mutyasira.
He added that the residents’ body gives all ratepayers an advantage to speak with one voice and push for their voice to be heard.
“There is no bill that is not coming without a charge for refuse collection but garbage is accumulating everywhere. Living without potable water is the new norm while potholed roads are training us to adapt to new driving styles.
“There is no visible enforcement of by-laws and outsiders are coming to erode the values of our properties as they set up undesignated markets everywhere. Wetlands, so vital to our environment, are under threat from property moguls.
“No one individual can address these ever increasing anomalies. One can join our committee and our desire is that every corner be represented in the committee by at least one resident.
“The residents’ body is an advantage. If each household is to subscribe, we will be able to do much more to normalise the prevailing situation. We respond to the concerns of residents whenever they come to us.
“The annual subscriptions are always put to good use improving the standards of our ward. We go as far as approaching the courts if the rights of residents are infringed upon,” said Mr Mutyasira.
BRRA executive committee member Mrs Pat Townsend also added that through increasing their membership they will realise their development agenda faster as they are stronger together.
“By increasing our membership and creating awareness of what BRRA does, we aim to involve the community and more stakeholders. Together we are stronger. We need a strong membership to achieve our goals. We charge a small annual fee per household, affordable to all. If we get most households within Ward 18 to join BRRA we will be well on our way to realising our objectives and improving Ward 18 significantly,” she said.
While the BRRA is the umbrella residents’ representative body for Ward 18, there are numerous other smaller associations which include Borrowdale Brooke Home Owners Association, Carrick Creagh Home Owners Association and Quinnington Residents Association.
In some suburbs residents have also established neighbourhood watch committees that deal with mainly security issues although they sometimes find themselves having to handle other service delivery issues.
