from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – ZIMBABWEANS are not sure if main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) is an alternative government to the ruling ZANU-PF as it brazenly fails to do simplest tasks of them all – collecting refuse.
ZANU-PF is an acronym for the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front.
CCC controls all towns and cities in the southern African nation, but residents in these cities, including the capital Harare, Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo, Kwekwe, Kadoma, Ruwa, Chinhoyi, Norton and Marondera, have all started fuming at the opposition political leadership.
One such unhappy citizen is multiple award winning Zimbabwean journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono, who is the fiercest critic of ZANU-PF.
“Removing this rubbish is so basic such that it doesn’t need any excuses at all! Every councillor goes home after collecting free pieces of land every term, but council can’t remove something so basic as rubbish in the center of the city,” Chin’ono fumed as he tweeted on X (formerly Twitter).
The veteran journalist is not alone in these complaints as Genius Mhiri concurred: ”
The incompetence of CCC (main opposition) to deal with these small tasks makes me doubt how they would run a whole nation.”
Changamire Jay observed: “Somehow it seems like no one holds anybody responsible for anything as far as (service) delivery is concerned in these offices. These councilors & MPs (for opposition are simply in politics for their stomachs & enriching themselves & their relatives. When you say it out loud, they accuse you of being misguided.”
uShaka kaSenzangakhona suggested: “The mayor (Director of Health Department) should implement night cleaners who clean the entire CBD in the evenings when there is no traffic or street vendors.”
Roy Rukuz accused both traders and the opposition city fathers of not implementing cleanliness.
“The people who dump rubbish here are the biggest culprit. There are too many traders here as well. But services by the council have rapidly declined over the years mainly caused by poor leadership of the council and the macroeconomic environment,” Rukuz said.
However, one city of Harare councillor, Rosemary Muronda said: “Our team is working tirelessly doing night dump clearance in the CBD (central business district).The past week we had fuel challenges that disturbed our schedule. On bin installation on every building we are trying to avoid these illegal dumpsites which are accumulating overnight.”
The ruling ZANU-PF accused CCC of running down the country’s towns and cities citing poor administration skills.
– CAJ News