Residents’ Trust rejects cosmetic budget consultations

THE Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) rejects the so-called pre-budget consultative meetings which the City of Harare has scheduled to begin Monday 11 October 2010 through to 19 October 2010 across the capital ahead of the council’s adoption of the 2011 City Budget.

These meetings are cosmetic as they lack the necessary publicity and support of the elected councillors. This confirms what we have always said, that the power and authority of our elected representatives has been subverted by a clique of technocrats only concerned with enriching themselves at the expense of the residents.   

The consultative meetings come at a time the City has been charging exorbitant rates for services not rendered to the residents of Harare. It is also important to note that the consultative meetings are being spearheaded by City Heads of Departments who are earning salaries ranging between US$10 000 to US$15 500 every month, yet the majority of residents are unable to pay for such necessities as food, rates and rentals, electricity, education for school children.

The same bureaucrats have presided over the collapse of service provision in Harare owing to greediness, acts of alleged corruption, nepotism and downright sabotaging of the councillors’ mandate to effectively represent the residents of Harare. The question that begs an answer is: how was the budget that is going to be discussed at these consultative meetings formulated?

Whose interests are these city bureaucrats serving if they cannot afford the residents or the councillors an opportunity to contribute towards budget formulation at the initial stages? The HRT objects to these cosmetic consultations which render public participation irrelevant, and of no material significance in the final drafting of the 2011 City Budget.

The HRT is aware of the evil intentions of the City Heads of departments who believe that they have a right to impose their theoretical estimations on the people, in the process safeguarding their huge salaries and allowances. They have assigned 48 city workers, split into four teams that will convene these cosmetic consultations meetings in the various district offices starting from Monday through to 19 October 2010. 

While the City of Harare has officially refused to release the schedule of its intended consultative meetings to the HRT, reasonable and sympathetic employees have nevertheless given us the schedule. According to template invitation letters extended to residents in their respective wards, purporting to be written by the respective ward councillor, the city workers are using the councillors as a shield from expected criticisms of the approach and proposed figures. 

Given these issues the HRT makes the following recommendations:

• That every household receiving a council bill should receive a letter of invitation to these consultative meetings. The City should first publicise these meetings before just waltzing into our communities and leave without getting substantial input from the residents who constantly bore the brunt of erratic water supplies, poor service delivery and exorbitant and unjustified rates for services not rendered. 
• Residents should throng the venues of these meetings and demand transparency and accountability in the budget making process.
• The City of Harare should re-convene any of the scheduled meetings that have an attendance less than 200 residents. Anything less is superfluous and unacceptable.  

Failure to listen, on the part of the City workers will leave the HRT with one option- to make budget adoption a living nightmare for the City fathers who are allowing themselves to be abused by these greedy workers. 

By the Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT)