EXPOSED: Moyo Politicising US$144million China Water Loan.
30 December 2017
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PRESS STATEMENT: The Residents Forum notes with concern the recent utterances on US$144million loan from China by Minister of Local Government July Moyo. The loan was secured during the time of inclusive Government.

Part of the money was abused by City Council Management who bought themselves vehicles and this was part of the reason for the sacking of former Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi. The Audit Report dated 10 June to 10 July 2013 which was commissioned by councillors and presided over by the deceased Deputy Mayor Clr Thomas Muzuva showed evidence of corruption on construction of 3 warehouses. The law provides that all tenders/procurement for Local authorities above $500 000 are done by the State Procurement Board whose Chief Executive officer ‘committed suicide’ early this year.

The $144 million loan was signed by central government through the Ministry of Finance .

The Central government has been riding on absence of the implementation of devolution, direct administration of the loan using their proxy Town Clerk . That is why Local Authorities are not given green light to choose who becomes a Town Clerk. The China loan was administered through an offshore account as agreed by Finance Ministry.

It is misleading from part of the Minister to expect clean water improvement in 2017 from City of Harare based on a 2012 loan which part of the money was abused. It is on record that the loan was signed and agreed when Council had been dissolved pending the 2013 elections.

Currently City of Harare is being owed over $700million and large sum of that money is from government, parastatals and residents who are failing to owner their bills due to economic hardships.

With improved economic recovery, payment for services is guaranteed and instead of addressing the fundamental economic question, government cancelled debts on rates and further cripple Local authorities revenue base. No cancellation has been backed by any budget allocation.

For over a decade now government is failing to remit 5% of its annual budget to Harare City Council. Instead of upholding constitutional provisions which include giving City of Harare its share as specified in Section 301(3) of the Constitution, Hon P Chinamasa in his 2018 budget statement said devolution is costly. He proposed amending the Constitution so as to further complicate issues of service delivery.

The current national administration should not expect councils to deliver when the powers of their operations and constitutional budget allocations are withheld.

As Residents Forum we view the current water crisis as the manifestation of three governance and economic justice questions:

1.Policy inconsistency and disregard of constitutional provisions- President Mnangagwa promised that a left turn will definitely be a left turn when he assumed power and the military which was the electoral college then used the Constitution of Zimbabwe as the hallmark of its operation. Can that be demonstrated on operations of Local Authorities, that is a multi million dollar question?.

2.The site of Harare is such that it has been built upstream of its water source. The wetlands preservation story is a priority for addressing water woes. What can government do to AVOID LONG CHEN PLAZAS IN HARARE?. When central government saw frogs on Long Chen Plaza, residents saw good quality water provisioning, flood attenuation services, reduced water purification costs on WETLANDS. Why is EMA crippled on preserving wetlands and why has the Harare Wetlands Map taken decades and decades at the Attorney General’s Office.

3. Economic recovery, forex availability and cash crisis. A sustainable debt management policy should be anchored on a strong economy offering jobs that ensure citizens pay for municipal services. If not, the $700 million owed to City of Harare can stretch into billions. Water Chemicals are imported and if forex cannot be availed to local authorities as we are currently witnessing we will revert back to 2007/8 cholera. Never be fooled, the 2007/8 cholera was triggered by former RBZ Governor Gideon Gono’s bearer cheques and it will be fuelled again by Governor Mangudya’s bond notes. The situation was stabilized by a multi-currency system emanating from a 2009.

Wayfoward

Give City of Harare its allocation, align laws and allow devolution of power and resources as starting points for claimed “POLICY CONSISTENCY” by President ED Mnangagwa.

Lastly we call upon City of Harare to be proactive and advise residents in advance of water and other challenges than to be reactive .

The recent statement from Minister of Healthy who said 95% of the current borehole water is contaminated it means the City and the Country are seating on a time bomb which need urgent attention of all stakeholders who should all play its part to improve quality of water and other social services

Resident Forum

One Reply to “EXPOSED: Moyo Politicising US$144million China Water Loan.”

  1. It just goes to show that this Anti Coruption people are just targeting those who were belonging to a certain faction If it was done properly it would send shock waves to the ordinary people they should have started with the Old man and his wife , family etc work they way down it has been done in a shoddy fashion

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