By Nicholas Gochai
Harare mayor Herbert Gomba on Monday bore his soul out and asked anyone listening to help Harare City Council (HCC) surmount its problems which he said are being caused by Zanu PF politicians and space barons.
Writing on his microblogging Twitter handle, Gomba made a passionate appeal to anyone, big or small, to find a workable solution to problems currently haunting HCC by reason of politicians and space who rent out municipality-owned land to thousands of desperate vendors.
“All we want is support to get council out of this; our call is to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, vendors’ unions, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the weak and strong to help us remove these space barons from our markets.
“We must collect ZWL22 million per annum (in rentals) but only ZWL3 million is coming,” Gomba said.
Without mincing his words, the mayor blamed unnamed politicians who he said were in it (politics) for filthy lucre.
“Why is it a crime to ask politicians to stop collecting money from our markets so we can finance service delivery?
“Our people want potable water and bins collected.
“For how long are we going to expose them to diseases while others are personally feasting on municipal revenue?” Gomba queried.
In the past, Zanu PF politicians such as the late Harare chairperson Amos Midzi and Jim Kunaka have been accused of illegally collecting rentals from places such as Mupedzanhamo, Siyaso, Mbare Musika Bus Terminal, among others through a ruthless Mbare-based gang going by the name Chipangano.
“It’s common knowledge that council has been deprived access to revenue in Glen View 8 and other markets.
“Our employees have been beaten and council property damaged.
“It is that revenue that enables us to deliver services to our people. All we want is help to access our markets,” he said.
Zim Morning Post was unable to get a comment from the Local Government ministry before going to press. Zim Morning Post
