REPORTS have emerged that government has given an order directing the Harare City Council to conduct its workshops in the capital.
How noble and good an idea! But why has government been silent all along?
These workshops were being held outside the capital for quite a long time.
So government has only realised it now that the councillors are gobbling thousands of ratepayers’ money through these workshops that are held hundreds of kilometres away from the citadel of power?
Residents have always complained that councils should hold workshops in their host cities or town and use that money for service provision.
In 2016, government directed all urban councils to stop holding “look to learn visits, workshops and conferences” amid revelations that there was growing abuse of funds to indirectly enrich councillors and officials.
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Then Local Government, Public Works and National Housing minister Saviour Kasukuwere revealed that this was necessitated by the fact that service delivery in the country was at its lowest.
In the directive, he even further struck off any “Christmas bonuses” and perks which councillors and council officials were awarding themselves as well as further ordering the local authorities to halt any increase in councillors’ allowances as government hoped to review them, awarding in tandem with service delivery.
Fast-forward to 2024, we are back to where we began.
Roads are in a terrible shape, land has been parcelled out to cronies and members affiliated to a certain political party.
Meanwhile, it’s the residents who continue to suffer as they have to drive through terrible roads, get home where the water is not coming out of the taps.
Mounds of garbage have become common sight everywhere, with council garbage trucks taking weeks to collect the garbage.
Surely, we cannot continue on this path.
Government must not only give orders that stop the holding of workshops outside the host cities or towns.
It must also avail funds to the same local authorities so that they can execute their duties and serve residents.
Government must also put measures in place that arrest the pilferage of ratepayers’ money.
Those who are awarded council tenders must be heavily supervised so that they supply the orders or get the job done.
Other than that, they must be prosecuted and sent to jail for a long time.
In China, the world’s second largest economy’s crackdown on corruption is no longer a campaign, but a part of its system, according to a Reuters report on January 18, 2024.
The report adds that after purging nearly five million individuals, mostly party officials, over the past 10 years, President Xi Jinping early this year proclaimed “overwhelming victory”.
There comes a point where Zimbabwean authorities have to be serious in this fight against corruption and follow the Chinese model.
Corruption is a cancer that needs to be nipped in the bud, so are council officials that are helping themselves to ratepayers’ money.