Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) is rejecting with contempt the ongoing cosmetic budget consultations being carried out by the commission running Harare City Council.

Minister of Local Government and Housing

“It is useless to consult residents on a budget already in place,” read part of the information from CHRA.

Although the residents association is going to attend the budget consultations and mobilize its members to do so, its participation will be to emphasize that the process is flawed and illegitimate.

Reasons for the disapproval of these consultations by CHRA start from the fact that they are saying the commission is illegal. The commission has been reappointed six times contrary to what CHRA says is stipulated in the Urban Councils Act (29:15) which stipulates the maximum period which a commission can serve. CHRA also says that courts of law have on numerous occasions declared the commission illegal. They are also stating that budgets for the last two years have been implemented well before the lapse of the mandatory 30 day consultation period.

CHRA is demanding that fair and free elections for the Mayor and councilors be done. The last democratically elected mayor for Harare was Clair Elias Mudzuri who never saw the light of the day in the mayoral sit when he was ousted by government through Ignatius Chombo, the minister of Local Government and Housing.

His predecessor was Sekesai Makwavara who made headlines in both the government and private media for the wrong reasons which included the famous by then million dollar curtains that she wanted purchased for use at the mayoral mansion in which she was to stay in. So was her proposal despite the fact that Harare was hit by persistent water shortages as well free flowing sewerage. Makwarara, a prodigal daughter of the MDC who never returned to say sorry I was lost enjoyed the comfort of Zanu PF and mostly from Chombo in her tenure which raised many an eyebrows. Her term of office came into void early this year when yet another commission run by Engineer Michael Mahachi was put into effect. The Makwavarara commission had several international trips that yielded nothing for the betterment of the city of Harare. In her own person, she was an opportunist who wanted to make a kill whilst she still had the guns to shoot. Although CHRA and residents of Harare inclusive of government media were against the Makwavavara commission, her stay was always extended with influence from once again Ignatius Chombo.

The reason as to why there have not been mayoral elections since the ouster of Mudzuri, The Zimbabwe Gazette has not established yet but all the commissions are filled with people chosen by the government. This therefore means that they are linked in certain ways to the schools of thought of the ruling party. At the moment CHRA is running literacy workshops which aim at capacitating residents with a better understanding on the due process of budget formulation.

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