Courtsey, a utopian luxury in Zimbabwe

By Desmond Kumbuka

OPINION – After recent heavy rains which damaged powerlines resulting in an electricity black-out of close to week in most areas of Harare, I came face to face with the reality of the decaying public service culture pervading many of our public institutions, be they government, local authorities and, tragically, parastatal organizations.

Shockingly, simply trying to report the electrical faults proved a daunting challenge. Either the designated phone lines went unanswered, and if one did manage to get through, the person answering the phone reacted as if this was an unwarranted intrusion into their privacy.

Once they sensed the caller on the other end maybe someone of some importance who knows their rights, they feigned concern and promised prompt action on the reported fault.

Needless to say, one soon learns that the glib promises and activities on the ground are not necessarily related because what eventually happens bears no resemblance to what the office workers say.

Aggrieved that for four days I had had no electricity, I, in the company of an equally disgruntled neighbor, visited the ZESA faults office at the Mabelreign Shops, where we found hordes of other very angry consumers.

First in the line was white lady, livid as hell, among a sizable queue of other disgruntled consumers, bitterly complaining about the litany of broken promises they’d been subjected to by Zesa officials. She too as many others had gone for nearly a week without power and persistent calls to the Zesa offices had yielded only more empty promises.

“What annoys me the most,” fumed the white lady:” is that promises are made that someone will attend to the problem, but nothing happens. When no one pitches up to attend to the fault, there is not even the courtesy of an apology or at least an explanation for the delay.”

The lady might as well have saved her breath. Those kinds of courtesies are alien to the new Zimbabwean service culture. I say new because, clearly things have not always been this way.

One ZESA repair-man sent to attend the electrical fault in my neighbourhood had some astonishing revelations about the corporate culture at his work place.

As we stood watching his colleague who was up the electricity pole doing whatever needed to be done, the man confided in me: “You see mukoma. Problem yatinayo is that our managers have no idea what challenges we face in the field.”

He gave poignant examples of a decaying corporate governance system where managers have totally divorced themselves from the rest of staff – and spend their working days barricaded behind closed doors attending endless meetings whose substance is all but a mystery to the ordinary workers.

The Zesa workman could not hide his disdain at the attitude of his superiors.

“All they do is drink tea in their offices while arguing about what kind of new state-of-the art vehicles they want to buy for themselves and how they can increase their own salaries, allowances and other perks.”

Tellingly, the man revealed that the faults section in the Mabelreign area had only one vehicle to respond to calls and some of the specialized equipment they needed to repair faults had long ceased or become obsolete with no replacements in sight. He also spoke of the utility’s tendency to purchase cheap Chinese tools which are only serviceable for a short while before becoming completely defunct.

I called ZESA spokesman Fullard Gwasira who initially told me he could not entertain my query because he was in a meeting, but could I text my questions.

“I just visited Mabelreign office to find a huge queue of consumers saying they have been without power for more than a week. I got the impression ZESA is overwhelmed with faults and can not cope: Comment please.” Was my prompt message to his mobile.

Needless to say, there was no response to that inquiry and further calls to his mobile went unanswered.

Perhaps to be fair, Zesa is certainly not alone in this lackadaisical approach to service delivery.

In fact, it there were to be awards for poor service delivery, the Harare Municipality would definitely be among the top contenders.

While Tendai Mahachi, the town clerk and his horde of managers cruise around in state-of-the- art vehicles while earning obscene five-figure salaries, the few refuse trucks available can not cope with the growing needs of the city.

Plastic refuse sacks that were previously issued at satellite offices of the council are now a thing of the past, while the repair of damaged roads and street lights is virtually nonexistent.

The potholes in some of the suburbs of Harare like Msasa Park, Mabelreign, Mbare, Highfield, Mufakose, Dzivaresekwa, are appalling and betray a shocking level of official neglect.

The Council, unfailingly, sends huge bills demanding payment for water supplies which are erratic and of dubious quality, and for irregular and unpredictable refuse collection. In countries where there is genuine consumer activism, Harare municipality would be a ready target for serious rebuke.

Some one once said Zimbabweans have this unique quality of normalizing the abnormal, and I agree. we treat failure as a challenge to be overcome on the alter of expedience. The central government, emasculated by its own failures, watches indifferently because it has neither the w ill nor the wherewithal to halt the decay in service institutions.

Comical power games in the ruling Zanu PF hog the media limelight, amid animated discussions of mega-joint ventures with the Chinese and the Russians, construction of a Sandton on the bushy lot at Mt Hampden, punch-drunk Zimbabweans plod on hoping for the best in the daily grind of survival.

Almost at every street intersection blind people and decrepit single mothers with malnourished infants strapped on their backs beg passing motorists to spare a few cents to help them out.

Government leaders who should be leading by example by investing the resources at their disposal for the benefit of the general public, horde whatever wealth accrues in the country for themselves and their close friends and relatives.

Ours has become a dog-eat-dog society where predatory greed has began to consume the moral propriety of the nation. Corruption is now like cancer slowly eating away the moral fibre in our society so that what is clearly unjustifiable becomes justifiable.

Indeed, as an example, why is it justifiable for the Harare municipality to continue to demand that I pay their bills when the service they provide, or lack thereof, is clearly out of sync with the cost benefit and many are justifiably disgusted by this uneven relationship.

Why should I continue to pay taxes to a government which, instead of providing me with a conducive environment to pursue a decent standard of living, is only interested in seeing how much more it can squeeze from me in taxes, levies, spot fines at roadblocks and licences.

By mismanaging the economy to the extent of widespread company closures and retrenchments, the government has robbed many Zimbabweans of any means of a livelihood and consigned many to a life of penury while the few a leadership positions that give them access to state resources continue to enjoy lavish lifestyles. Is that justifiable?