Harare Mayor vows to tame cholera

By Nyemudzai Kakore

Harare Mayor Councillor Herbert Gomba has urged city officials to channel more resources in addressing the key drivers of the cholera outbreak especially water and sanitation issues in order to transform the lives of ratepayers.

In an interview, Cllr Gomba said the city should put in place mechanisms to avert the recurrence of cholera and typhoid.

This, he said, will be possible if the city capitalises on the experience of the other stakeholders in improving service delivery.

The sentiments by Cllr Gomba come in the wake of a cholera outbreak which hit Harare and other parts of the country has claimed 49 lives and left thousands needing treatment.

“The city is seized with the cholera outbreak and all efforts are being made to address the key drivers of this pandemic especially the water and sanitation issues. Let me assure you that one of the major priorities of this council is the supply of adequate safe water to the residents of Harare and mega projects will be rolled out in this regard,” he said.

“We are going to make sure that we put in place mechanisms to avert a recurrence of the disease. You might have noticed that from our 100-day plan the WASH sector is not adequately covered. This is because these are on the Town Clerk’s desk and daily reports on progress made in addressing sticky issues are being submitted. Secondly, these issues will go well beyond the 100-day plan but we are looking at a sustainable solution to deal with the current crisis.”

Cllr Gomba said thematic working groups, which will be implementing the city’s goals, had been set up as an initiative to articulate the right strategies and priorities.

He said other goals will include rehabilitation of roads, capturing of Hopley properties and generally beautifying the city.

“A plan for measuring goals and tracking success has been put in place. The teams will be reporting weekly to a monitoring and evaluation committee. This is a policy direction and it is expected that the teams hit the ground running and ensure that when we have a mid-term review tangible results will be reported,” he said.

“As council, we believe that when there is a policy direction, it must be followed religiously so that all our activities are in sync, moving in the same direction towards the development of the city. A programme of this nature presents us with an opportunity to engage in introspective reflection to engender performance in our local authority.

“This critical programme demands total commitment and diligence. In other sectors the approach has produced good results and we will measure you against your own initiative. Resources should be marshalled towards improving service delivery. This dispensation demands action and peak performance.”

Harare as the capital city, Cllr Gomba said, should show the strategic leadership so that other local authorities can also tap into the knowledge and vast experience of their teams which have been implementing the Rapid Results Initiative.  The Herald