Residents power on the way in Harare

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Harare residents have always resisted perceived or actual aggression by the regime’s Ignatius Chombo and the puppet commission running the affairs of Harare. They raise their voices at the slightest provocation and yet they take their time to respond as a collective grouping.

That is certainly changing as residents now take seriously the issues raised by the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA). The frequency of visitors to the association’s Daventry House offices and the volumes of residents’ reports/ enquiries that we receive confirm the relevance of CHRA in this struggle for our freedom as Harare citizens.

Our membership has risen from 3 000 in January 2006 to around 10 000 fully paid up members.
Members have proved themselves capable of staging well-coordinated, peaceful demonstrations. They ferry flowing sewerage and uncollected garbage to dump it at local District Offices.

Their determination and commitment is unparalleled. They have initiated grassroots mobilisation campaigns around the pertinent subjects of service delivery, health, the billing system of the municipality and the water supply and administration.

The objective now is to starve the illegal commission of the resources to finance its extravagance and restore the resident to his/ her rightful position in determining how the city’s 2007 budget is drafted, approved and implemented.

Public meetings have provided us with the platform to share our experiences. Residents have emerged stronger from the traumatic experiences of the past two years under the illegal commission. They foresee the end of tyranny. An opportunity to rebuild the city is imminent with elected representatives of the people, the councilors and a mayor.

They have only themselves to blame if they fail to capitalize on the administration gap that exists due to the absence of an elected council. That space is by right, up for occupation by residents through active participation in monitoring service provision by the municipality, input into the 2007 City budget, and pushing for municipal and council elections.