The City of Harare is currently preparing the 2011 city budget. The below letter from the Harare Residents’ Trust outlines where you can review the budget and how to contribute your comments on it.

Dear Resident,

This letter serves to advise you that on 30 November 2010, and at Town House, around 4.30pm, the City of Harare, through the Finance and Development Committee Chairperson Ruth Rufaro Kavunika, tabled the 2011 City Budget before the full council meeting. This means that you as a resident have to take appropriate action to safeguard your financial interests in the coming year. The City of Harare has proposed increases in water rates, rentals and seeks to maintain the rates of clinic charges at 2010 levels, among others. There are several other proposals that you need to be aware of. You have to plan ahead, and the budget is the best policy statement to guide you.

The Harare Residents’ Trust advises you to take time to go and inspect the proposed budget at Town House, and all District Offices immediately. In terms of the Urban Councils’ Act (Chapter 29:15), once you have inspected the proposed budget, it is your right to make necessary comments on the budget, either rejecting/opposing the proposed charges or accepting them.

If you object to the budget, it is your responsibility to write your objection letter addressed to the Town Clerk, at Town House, specifying your reasons for rejecting the proposals, indicating your physical home address within the 30-day stipulated period. You are safe and it is within your rights to do so. Once thirty (30) objections are lodged, the City of Harare has to revise the proposals downwards before finally approving the budget.

This is the only major opportunity to the citizen to comment on the budget, otherwise if you do not use your right at law to make objections or inspect the budget, you have no one but yourself to blame when the budget is implemented beginning January 2011. The City will simply implement the high rates if you do not raise your voice.

When you write your objections, make two copies, which have to be both stamped at Town House, to serve as evidence that you submitted them. Submit the other copy to the HRT as a record so that at the end of the 30-day period of inspection, the organisation can also verify that nothing outside the law is done by the council, since there is no water tight method of verification and adjudication that safeguards the interests of residents.

The HRT will keep you informed on the budget making process until it is finally approved. Thank you for being a responsible citizen.

You can reach the Harare Residents’ Trust on 0712-500402, 0774-354201 or 0772-869294 or email hretrust [at] yahoo [dot] com

After two meetings with the Confederation of Zimbabwean Industries, the Ministry of Transport has agreed to postpone the effective date for implementation of SI 154 from 1 December 2010 to July 2011. The Road Traffic Regulations, amongst other things, require motorists to carry fire extinguishers and reflective triangles approved by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.

According to The Herald, Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development Secretary Partson Mbiriri said the regulations had been developed “after wide consultation with all stakeholders,” and that originally they had been intended to give road users 12 months notice before they took effect. But due to delays in the gazetting process, that notice period was greatly reduced – hence the postponement in the effective date.

As of yet, no one in Zimbabwe is authorised to sell SAZ approved products (one of the requirements of the regulations), and some concerns have been raised as to how fire extinguishers will fare sitting in parked vehicles in the sun, where temperatures can get to over 50 degress in the car.

More importantly, whether the regulations come into effect in December or in July next year, the larger questions remain the same – how do we trust the police, notorious for their bribe-seeking behaviour, to not simply view this as one more reason to harass drivers? In the context of Zimbabwe’s much larger problems, how relevant is an attempt to impose detailed requirements as to what I must carry in my vehicle and what specifications these items adhere to? Where does governmental involvement end and individual responsibility end – particularly in a context of authoritarian governance? Is it government’s job to require me to have a spare tyre, or is it my job as a motorist to ensure that I am looking after my vehicle – and respecting the safety of other road users?

Quite a few of us living in Harare “leak” (that is, give a massive sigh) when we’re asked to pick someone up from Harare International Airport off the South African Airways flight at 9pm. It’s not that we’re unhelpful or unfriendly, its more to do with running the gauntlet of weirdly positioned (that is, in the dark, with no signage) police roadblocks, non-working traffic lights, potholes and the Zimbabwe Mafia.

The Zimbabwe Mafia is a group of 4 men who rob and assault people returning from the airport. Most recently my family went to welcome home a sibling returning for Christmas. They parked their car in the airport car park but little did they know that whilst they were inside, a member of the Zimbabwe Mafia slashed one of their tyres. When they left the airport they got as far as the Independence arch when the tyre became flat. Pretty soon they were rounded on by 4 men who were violent (one of them hit the 74 year old driver across the face with a wheel spanner) and they were intent on stealing what they could. When they left, they told their victims that they had met the Zimbabwe Mafia.

Welcome to Zimbabwe.

There is no doubt that if the Zimbabwean authorities had an ounce of proactivity and concern they would do something to improve the security situation for people travelling to and from the airport.

1. The airport car park is dimly lit at the best of times. When the airport wants to save on power, there are actually no lights on at all in the car park. Of course this gives the bad guys all the room in the world to manoeuvre.
2. The airport car park does not have a single guard looking after the cars parked there. Why?
3. Whilst construction of a fancy new road to the airport has been underway for over 2 years, the current one does not have streetlights in certain sections, like before the Independence arch. Why has this not been addressed? Yes, it’s fine for some who speed around our city in motorcades but what about the rest of us.
4. Members of the Hatfield Police Station are incredibly energetic when it comes to positioning themselves on the airport road at strategic times to catch motorists speeding to catch a flight. However, it is clearly known to them by now that local Zimbabweans and visitors are being assaulted at night. Why are they not increasing their presence on the airport road at these vulnerable times? Too much like hard work? I think so.

In real terms, the authorities could make this strategic area of our city much safer fairly easily. But they won’t. And in the meantime government officials cite Zimbabwe as a safe destination.

Come to Zimbabwe and get robbed before you reach your hotel.

You’ll love it here.

As part of their work in addressing corruption in Zimbabwe, Transparency International Zimbabwe is currently working to promote the ALAC initiative. ALAC (Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre) is an anti-corruption initiative that provides free legal aid services to victims and witnesses of corruption. The initiative seeks to empower citizens to demand accountability and transparency.

Presently ALAC has a mobile legal aid team to assist members of the public to make their reports in confidence. Their mobile unit will be at the corner of First Street and George Silundika Ave in Harare every Friday between 9am and 12pm.

Their offices are located at No. 99 Central Avenue Cnr 8th Street Harare.

They may also be contacted via phone on the toll free number 0800 4276 or email on alac [at] transparency [dot] org [dot] zw.

Transparency International Zimbabwe will also be conducting a march on anti-corruption day 11 December 2010, starting at 8am. The march will be from Julius Nyerere to Africa Unity Square. Please keep checking this blog, or Kubatana’s email newsletter for more information. To subscribe to the Kubatana email newsletter email join [at] kubatana [dot] net.

It is that time of the year when families that had been separated for various reasons come back and celebrate Christmas and New Year as a family. Like most people Christmas time is the time when I want to be with my family enjoying the long missed mom’s Christmas recipes. Every parent wants to be with his/her children during this time of the year. This time of the year reminds of the long trips I used to take a few years ago going to down South Africa or Botswana to buy groceries and goodies for Christmas. If you did not experience this time maybe you were not in Zimbabwe during that time or you were okay (sic). I never enjoyed the travelling but I had to do it so that I could enjoy Christmas.

To those in the transport sector that’s when it will be all smiles because its time to make a killing from those poor guys coming back home to meet loved ones. At least this year there won’t be much money to make since some of the basic products are now back in the shops. When the Home Affairs department went down to South Africa to issue travel documents a lot of noise was made about the process but after chatting with my friend who is in South Africa he said some only got promises of getting the papers in December. With the South Immigration singing the deportation chorus, and here it is the chorus of elections next year, it’s now a situation of being caught between a rock and hard place that is if you are Zimbabwean without a permit and a passport in South Africa.

The exodus of Zimbabweans to the Diaspora in the past few years is mainly due to political and economic challenges and many hoped that things would get better after the signing of the GPA. Last week I passed through Road Port in town to collect a parcel from my cousin in South Africa. At first I thought of how I was going to carry the parcel home because in my mind I was thinking of a big parcel. A year ago when you received something from SA you had to go with a taxi because it had every basic product in it. So when I met this guy (Malaicha) who had brought the package I was shocked to get a sealed khaki envelope. I asked, “Is that all?”  He replied, “Spend it wisely, it was hard earned”.  After reading the postcard that was in the envelope, my aunt was not happy because my cousin had written saying he had decided to stay behind until he gets a work permit before the deadline. I said to my aunt, “You should be happy because at least he sent you cash for Christmas.”  But still, she was not happy.

The reason I later got from my aunt was she didn’t want money but to see if my cousin is in good health. My cousin left Zimbabwe during the peak period of the election fever of 2008. I guess with a postcard stuck on the fridge door she will know that her son is alive and she will go to church on Christmas day and give praise to the Lord.

The Harare Residents Trust recently issued this letter to councillors in Zimbabwe’s capital city:

Dear Councillor

I hope this letter finds you well. Firstly the Harare Residents Trust (HRT) is greatly disappointed due to the fact that we just discovered by coincidence about your meeting today. As HRT, we anticipate that as our elected leader you side with the struggling resident of Harare. The residents of Harare are facing serious problems at community level with particular reference to service delivery. Communities continue to bear the brunt of a collapsed road network, street lighting, refuse collection, polluted water, burst sewerage pipes, overgrown grass in public spaces, dilapidated social infrastructure, and unsustainable bills.

Not to mention ineffective representation of residents in local government issues. Below are the suggested figures from communities:

• Refuse – $ 1, Rentals – $5, Water -$2, Sewerage reticulation – $2, Cemetery charges – $10

• Maternity fees- Zero, Supplementary charges – $1, Clinic charges – $1 for consultation

• Parking in CBD – $1 per day, Hall booking – $25

• Library fees -$1 per month, Flea market – to reduce by 50% current rates

• Council schools – to reduce by 40%

• Salaries and administration – the residents want the city to reduce by 20 percent its workforce in the 2011 City budget

The HRT through its community advocacy work is communicating the wish and aspirations of communities. The HRT challenges you to think seriously on these issues or suggestions raised by the communities. This will enable Harare residents to participate in the issues that affect them on a daily basis. This is critical as poor and unaffordable services being offered currently to areas are impacting negatively on the welfare of the vulnerable and disadvantaged members of Harare communities which include women, children, the unemployed youths, the elderly and the disabled to mention a few.

The HRT strongly believes in the principles of social justice, participation, transparency and accountability and these fundamental issues should be prioritized and attended to through your esteemed office. We believe in a “bottom up approach” to local governance rather than a “top down approach”.

It’s “TIME OUT” for ineffective representation at local government level, poor community service delivery and a lack of action on your part as our councilor. It’s also time for you to realize and appreciate that “leadership is more of a responsibility rather than a privilege”.