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Councillor accused of dodging

20 May, 2022 - 00:05 0 Views
Councillor accused of dodging Cllr Makone

Suburban

WARD 18 residents have expressed concern over the unavailability of their councillor Mr Ian Makone to attend to service delivery issues affecting the ward.

Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter

The residents said Mr Makone’s absence comes at a time when services have been deteriorating and they have no one to lodge their concerns with as he is not easily reachable.

Residents set up a councillor’s office at the Borrowdale district office to facilitate interface between them and their representative. 

But the residents say Councillor Makone is never available at the office and requested him to ensure there is someone manning his office at the district office who can record their concerns for his attention. 

Residents said they understood the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic which limits physical interactions but felt the councillor should find ways of keeping in touch with the ratepayers.

 “The councillor has generally not been available to act on the matters raised by residents on a day-to-day basis. 

“When residents have concerns, they need solutions or at least narratives indicative of solutions immediately and the ward leader is expected to be privy to and avail information relating to processes leading to such solutions,” said a resident.

Residents said the City of Harare’s problems needed a hands-on approach because they were terribly weighing down service delivery.

“Service delivery, which is the mandate of council, has generally been poor and non-existent in our ward. This situation needed a hands-on approach and as many attempts at interventions by the councillor should be noticeable. 

“The councillor has an office at the district office but for the greater period of his term in office, residents have had to be at the mercy of his availability if they need his attention. 

“Not all matters can be dealt with on the phone. At times documents need to be perused one on one but residents have complained that the privilege to meet the councillor was not always there as they expected it to be,” said another resident.

Suggestions were made for the councillor to consider having someone even at intern at the office.

“Residents expected his office to be manned even by an intern just to record complaints raised by residents. 

“Consequently, most matters were loaded onto the district officer who herself will be overwhelmed with other matters. 

“The aptness with which matters are attended to leaves a lot to be desired. The District Development Committee established by the Councillor at one of the few meetings he held with residents never took off. 

“We understand the interruptions and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic during the term of office of our councillor but there should be more to tell of his effectiveness in the ward,” said a resident.

Complaints were also raised about the municipality’s failure to enforce its own by-laws.

“Enforcement of city by-laws has been inconsistent and illegal vending sites and illegal activities have sprouted under his watch throughout the entire ward. 

“Social amenities which should be enjoyed by residents are not there to talk about. Our children have nowhere to play and no effort has been made to create such facilities for them,” said a Borrowdale resident.

Contacted for comment, Councillor Makone admitted failure by the local authority and thanked the Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA) for pushing for development in Ward 18.

He said it was not a secret that the City of Harare is going through challenging times in its main areas of service delivery to the community- waste removal, water supply, and road maintenance. 

These challenges impacted at both the macro and the individual household levels, he said. 

“Some of the remedial measures are within the control of the city itself but others require the contribution of the central Government. 

“We are doing all we can on both aspects. 

“The city has failed in its fleet maintenance service with the result that availability of refuse collection vehicles reduced to critical levels and the build-up of refuse is evident even in our own ward.

“On the bright side fleet availability has started to improve through maintenance and I anticipate this improvement to reflect in less garbage fairly soon,” he said.

Cllr Makone paid tribute to the BRRA for addressing some of the service delivery concerns especially on refuse collection and water supply.

“I cannot praise enough the parallel efforts of residents through BRRA, who have organised for the rehabilitation of one refuse compactor provided by CoH, that will be dedicated to Ward 18 waste removal, to augment City of Harare. 

“It is clear CoH cannot do it alone and appreciates the complementary efforts of residents. City of Harare is also taking delivery of five new tipper trucks and three refuse compactors shortly, which will further improve service. 

 “Issues of water have been affected by disruptions in supply lines and pumping to the main reservoirs of Greendale, Kambanji and Borrowdale. On the brighter side the pipes and pumps have now been fixed. 

“It will take time to restore water levels in the tanks, followed by release of water to residents. We try to keep residents appraised on these situations through the several social media platforms in our ward but I would be happy to use Suburban as one more channel to improve our interface with residents,” said Cllr Makone.

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