(NEWZIMBABWE) Mugabe blasts money-grabbing councilors

Mugabe blasts money-grabbing councilors
04/12/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has told local authorities to concentrate on service delivery instead of spending their time fighting for personal benefits and allowances.

Mugabe told a meeting of the Zimbabwe Local Government Association (Zilga) in Victoria Falls on Saturday that he was concerned about the deplorable state of service delivery in the country’s towns and cities.

“I am not saying councillors should not get appropriate allowances; far from it. They should, however, strive to ensure that they provide good service to citizens,” Mugabe said.

Citing Harare and Chitungwiza, Mugabe said garbage was going uncollected in most towns with little being done to improve other infrastructure such as roads.

“We want clean cities. Bulawayo is much cleaner and better organised than Harare. I recently visited Chitungwiza when some Chinese eye specialists came in and there was garbage and potholes everywhere. This does not attract tourists.
"Don't kill our cities, please. Don't kill our country," he said.

He challenged local authorities to do more to improve the country’s cities, adding they could draw lessons on good urban planning from places such as Singapore, Malaysia and China.

"I wonder if the local government people in Harare have ever thought of planting trees to beautify the city. The trees we have, the jacarandas, were planted by settlers. If you go east to places like Singapore, Malaysia and China, there is careful urban planning," Mugabe said.

Harare also faces a water supply crisis with nearly 250 cases of typhoid have been treated being treated in the city last month.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace recently warned in a statement that collapsed water and sanitation facilities would cause "more suffering and deaths" as annual rains begin.

Nearly 250 cases of the waterborne disease typhoid have been treated in Harare this month.

The commission urged the government declare the water shortages a national disaster adding emergency funds were needed in areas where people take contaminated water from drains and shallow, makeshift wells.