The Combined Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA) has called for the rejection of the city’s 2018 budget, saying no proper consultations were done with ratepayers.
BY OBEY MANAYITI
In an interview on Tuesday during a breakfast meeting to deliberate on the proposed $269,3 million budget, CHRA director, Mfundo Mlilo said: “We are rejecting the budget on two issues which are the process and substantive issues.”
“On process, we are saying it didn’t cover the length and breadth in terms of consultation to capture the concerns of residents and we haven’t received the consultation report that says this is what the residents of Harare want. Without that report, it is really difficult to support it.
“Secondly, there are no substantial issues contained in the budget. For example, there is a proposal to increase the budget by 150%. Effectively, the cost of water is going to be high. There are many other areas that do not answer to what residents need.” Among the areas that CHRA felt the city did not address include improvement on water reticulation, road rehabilitation and erection of road signs, infrastructure development, refuse collection, improvement on the health sector and full recognition of the informal sector.
The organisation also called upon the city to digitalise the housing waiting list, so that there is transparency in the distribution of housing stands.
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Other residents called upon the city to prioritise service delivery, particularly improvement on the supply of potable water. They said it was senseless for them to pay rates for non-existent services.
In response, councillor Luckson Mukunguma representing mayor Bernard Manyenyeni, said there was need for residents to fund the budget, so that the local authority delivers as per the residents’ expectations.
He said there was need for ownership of the city, so that everyone had a sense of development and that of attaining the world class status within the stipulated time.
Mukunguma said residents needed to do away with the idea of waiting for the government to scrap their arrears, claiming this was making people not pay.