MOREBLESSING MARANGE
Government has said Harare City Council is in a mess with the opposition-run local authority failing to address corruption while allowing digging up of cemeteries and construction on wetlands.
Harare Metropolitan Provincial Affairs and Devolution secretary Tafadzwa Muguti said disorder was now common in the capital city and blamed the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) run council for failure.
He warned that the government will soon step in to deal with the chaos.
“In a nutshell there is just disorder, there are cemeteries being dug up, schools being dug up, waste traders, waste rampant,” Muguti said.
He denied claims that the government abused over ZWL$2bn devolution funds and paid the Pomona Waste-to-Energy Geogenix BV deal.
This comes as Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has threatened to sue the government.
“The devolution funds are supposed to be called emotional projects. They are used to build clinics, schools, bridges and other social infrastructure.”
The council for a certain authority are the ones who decide on what kind of a project they want to do. We only come in to monitor how the money was used and if it was used wrongly and if the mathematics does not make sense, we then take an action.”
But Muguti said they did not use devolution funds on the Pomona project. “The project came by the City of Harare so the government only played their role as the guarantor. There is no money which was deducted from the project it is just a perception,” he said.
Muguti accused council of gross incompetence in managing waste and lacking capacity in dealing with managing the environment.
He warned the government will go after properties built on wetlands.
“We have a situation where we have agreed that wetlands should not be touched. The preservation and protection of wetlands should not be stopped and a situation where wetlands are invaded and no action is taken is unwanted.”
“We can’t go on like that every year. Whether it’s raining or not we still have land invasions and when that person is given a stop order to stop constructing they keep on constructing because they are being told by politicians or whatever activists that they have human rights. There are no human rights when you are breaking the law.”
