Two organisations representing Harare residents have called on the government to appoint a commission to run the affairs of Harare City Council.
This follows the arrest of top city officials and Mayor Herbert Gomba after being implicated in land scams.
Zimbabwe Combined Residents Association (ZICORA) president, McSteven Nyabvure, said the setting up of a commission to run the city’s affairs was long overdue. He said:
A commission should have been in place way back. Our lives are in danger due to corruption. The commission should have been placed like yesterday.
Leader of the Zimbabwe National Organisation of Associations and Residents Trust, Shepherd Chikomba believes that the establishment of a commission may put a stop to the corruption that has become endemic in the municipality. Said Chikomba:
This level of corruption is uncalled for and we condemn it in the strongest terms. Maybe if a commission is appointed to run these councils, things will change for the better. Government has to intervene.
However, Combined Harare Residents Association director Loreen Mupasiri-Sani is opposed to the appointment of a commission.
Mupasiri-Sani argued that unlike councillors, who are answerable to residents, the appointed commissioners would be reporting directly to the central Government.