OUTGOING Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni says he is leaving
office with a heavy heart after failing to achieve most of his set goals mainly
because of alleged sabotage by fellow councillors, management and central
government.
Manyenyeni (BM) poured his heart out in a recent interview
with NewsDay (ND) reporter Paidamoyo Muzulu. Below are the excerpts:
ND: What can you highlight as the major achievements you
have made during your tenure as Harare mayor?
BM: In your question I note the general perception
attaching performance and achievements to an individual mayor. This works a
lot, quite rightly, in situations in which the individual mayor has effective,
legal, political and administrative control of municipal service delivery.
Without ducking your question, residents will appreciate
that with three crippling issues – debts write-off, a huge salary cost, adverse
politics, low revenue collections, poor focus, limited capacity and
questionable financial management – there is little room to manoeuvre and
achieve one’s desired results.
I am happy that we energised the Morton Jaffray Water
project and it has delivered about 30% increase in water supply. From under 400
megalitres, the current supply is over 520 megalitres and targeting 600
megalitres.
I am very proud of our improved financial reporting record.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, we are up to date with our external
audits. We cleared seven audits in three years.
Being open, accessible, frank has renewed interest in
council business, but our operations remain woefully misunderstood. Very few
people, and I mean very few people, even understand who should do what in
council – so much of guesswork and assumptions.
ND: Harare has struggled to restructure its wage bill and
it seems you are going out of office without resolving this long-running
matter. What have been the hurdles to implement the restructuring exercise?
BM: The salary issue could not be resolved sooner because
of a poor grasp of what we mean by human resource cost and the numbers
involved, the politics of right-sizing the wage bill, the involvement of
heavily-conflicted decision-makers.
ND: Harare is still struggling to provide basic services
like refuse collection, road maintenance and reliable water services, what
grand plans do you have in place to sort these issues once and for all?
BM: We are getting on top of the refuse collection problem
with our new fleet of garbage contractors, but knowing ourselves well, these
could soon be grounded due to diesel shortages!
On road maintenance, I am sure those with ears have heard
my loud calls about this unfunded task. We are going to fix the roads if the
Zimbabwe National Road Administration takes care of our water treatment
chemicals! They are currently collecting motor car levies and sharing it with
their uncles.
ND: Harare has never had a long-term strategic development
plan since independence. What is the vision and plan that you are leaving
behind that will define your tenure?
BM: We need to disabuse ourselves of the 2025 timeline for
the world class city status. It will take about 10 years of post-political
change for the economy and the city to aim for world class settings.
I wish us to leave office with a new management drive, a
more compliant resident, enhanced councillor calibre for a better council and a
better city. The central government’s role and capacity is sadly over-rated.
Any promises given on the basis of the current settings is mere propaganda.
ND: Your administration has been involved in urban
regeneration and has gone on the market to raise municipal bonds to rejuvenate
the city? How have you made sure that people from the areas rejuvenated like
Joburg Lines, Mbare hostels will able to pay and stay in the refurbished
houses?
BM: Without threatening to evict anyone, a new Mbare should
attract a new tenant – we have to provide for everyone according to their
capacity to pay. A broke council cannot afford much charity work, so we have to
invest more into low-cost shelter for our people. Shelter provision must be
more compelling than ownership and title.
ND: As the city struggled to raise money for operations, it
has resorted to selling of the family silver (houses, town buildings and open
spaces) to private players. Do these acts not qualify your administration as
the most capital-friendly and not concerned about the future of its residents?
BM: Guilty as charged – that was an irresponsible move – it
was a delinquent model of running a city. The schemers made sure that when I
was out of town for just one day they quickly got the acting mayor to sign what
they knew I had refused to sign.
ND: Council has a number of properties under its portfolio,
has council ever considered charging commercial rates to curb subletting and
get a return from its investments?
BM: Yes, this thinking has been tabled – we have considered
outsourcing the property portfolio to private sector players who have superior
efficiencies to maximise our assets. It has not yet been progressed, but that
is the way to go.
ND: Council still has a bloated senior administration that
is paid far above market rates. What is your administration going to do to
rationalise the wage structure?
BM: We are finalising a salary survey – hoping it will
deliver the right pointers. I maintain that almost every job in council can be
done at half the current cost by an equally competent person. If we are an
inefficient employer maybe we should outsource those services which can be
managed at lower costs to the residents.
ND: You have been suspended twice by the government and
later reinstated. What do you think needs to happen to make council operate
efficiently?
BM: The political interference is disruptive. We need to
allow the mandate holders the space to perform. Even when we disagree there is
no justification for some of these brutalities. They damage much more than the
targeted individual – it is a blight on the city. With global access to
information these things adversely pop up each time the city is being discussed
for opportunities now and into the future. The office, person and style of
mayor should be unifying and inclusive.
Therefore, making Town House a battle-ground for party
politics is most inappropriate.
ND: What do you think should be ideal calibre of
councillors elected to steer Harare to its former glory?
BM: The job to be done must prescribe the incumbent or
aspirant. It should never be about who wants to be councillor.
We need a diverse range of high-level skills – Harare City
Council is the biggest board of directors in the country. Those to be
supervised take advantage of any deficiency in capacity.
Those seeking to be councillors must present some
credentials matching the needs to run half-a-billion dollars’ worth of
decision-making.
Incompetence is costly – it runs into hundreds of millions
of dollars and I can prove it.
Political risks cost us the entry of competent residents to
serve as councillors. Newsday
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