Suburban
Harare City Council this week informed residents that it is unable to collect garbage because it has no diesel for its refuse collection trucks.
In a statement on Wednesday, council said it had paid its fuel suppliers but was still to receive the diesel. “Dear residents, we are currently unable to remove household garbage because we do not have diesel.
“We paid for our consignment and are yet to receive the fuel. We are therefore are unable to deploy any garbage collection trucks. Once we receive the fuel we will do a blitz in all suburbs to clear the backlog created through non collection,” the City of Harare said in the statement.
The prevailing fuel shortages have crippled council’s ability to provide services. However, fuel is readily available at those service stations selling in foreign currency. Council also announced this week that it was facing challenges in buying water treatment chemicals which has seen the production of water go down drastically. “Dear residents, the City of Harare would like to advise residents that we are currently facing challenges in the procurement of water chemicals. This has seen us being forced to reduce water production. We will give updates as and when the situation improves,” council said in a statement. With no feedback and service delivery meetings being held where councillors, council officials and residents congregate to discuss the state of service delivery in the various suburbs in Harare, residents are left in the dark about the situation.
Although council makes the statements on its social media platforms such as Facebook, not all residents are on these platforms.
The service delivery situation in Harare is gloomy with the city council remaining largely incapacitated to deliver its mandate of providing services to residents. In Borrowdale, the Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association had to issue a statement to its members encouraging them to identify roads in need of urgent repairs before the onset of rains. The BRRA told its members that money had been allocated for some roadworks before the onset of this year’s rain season.
It emerged that several roads in Borrowdale are in a deplorable state and in urgent need of repairs. According to residents responding to a call to identify the roads needing urgent repairs in their neighbourhoods, several of the roads which include Rayl Road, Quinnington Road, Scanlen Road, Gaydon Road, Kingsmead Road, Ettington Road, Newbold Road, Guys Cliff Road in Greystone Park, Lytham Road, Hungardown Road, Halford Road, Addington Lane and Lemington Road are in a dilapidated state.
Last month, the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) announced that it had disbursed $143,3 million for maintenance countrywide for the first and second quarter. Beneficiaries of the funds are the Department of Roads in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, District Development Fund, urban and rural district councils. At least residents of Ward 18 which includes Borrowdale, Borrowdale West, Borrowdale Brooke, Greystone Park, Ballantyne Park, Colne Valley, Philadelphia, Hogerty Hill, Umwinsidale and Glen Lorne among other suburbs are on social media or have their own platforms through which they pass information. The same cannot be said about residents of other suburbs who will be in the dark about these service delivery issues. Perhaps council could also find other ways of informing residents about its challenges to ensure it reaches most of its ratepayers.
