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TOWARDS the end of 2011, the media had articles quoting Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda urging city councillors to re-elect him to lead them for a second term at the helm of the capital city.
What this implies is that the mayor is confident of his performance since coming into council, as an appointee of the MDC-T, symbolically elected by all elected councillors. But Harare residents did not directly elect him into office.
This piece is not about personalities, but about performance of office holders within the City of Harare. I will focus on the mayor and also talk about the councillors and the heads of departments in the council.
At the end I will try to recommend policy alternatives and other strategies to tackle the leadership transformation for a better life for the residents of Harare in 2012.
For the record, this is the same mayor who, since coming into office in 2008, has lambasted the calibre of councillors in Harare. While the Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) agrees with the mayor on this position, what boggles the mind is why someone who feels there is a huge mismatch in skills and experience between himself and the majority of the councillors would still want to continue working with them.
The ideal thing would be a decent exit, marking relief from the pain of working with incompetent subordinates, rather than seeking another term.
For their part, the majority of the councillors in Harare have completely lost direction and are overwhelmed by their responsibilities and assumed powers. The councillors have repeatedly acted more like mercenaries than policymakers of the capital city.
They have failed to influence service provision and instead preoccupied themselves with contesting for power and authority over city workers, engaging in often dirty warfare with incumbent Members of Parliament.
The community leaders have failed to convene community feedback meetings, updating residents of what they are doing on their behalf.
Officially councillors and the mayor earn less than US$220 every month in allowances for their roles as policymakers. Except for a handful of councillors, including the mayor, the majority had nothing to their names in the mould of cars and houses to be able to lead an extravagant lifestyle at the time of their election.
It is their new lifestyles which have attracted our attention as the HRT. Some who did not have enough shirts and trousers to attend council’s committee and full council meetings have transformed overnight to even imitate Nigerians in terms of dressing and speech, just so that they showcase their newfound status of unexplained wealth.
Now, as the debate on whether or not to retain Masunda as the Mayor of Harare gains momentum, the key issues that should be under consideration include, but are not limited to, the policy direction the council seeks to take in 2012 and the council’s ability to develop alternative strategies to mobilise resources to sustain its operations rather than continuing to depend on already overburdened residents.
It is important to evaluate the performance of the council under Masunda, specifically understanding how they have attempted to address the housing backlog, water delivery, road maintenance, health provision, environment management and waste disposal.
The mayor has consistently acted as if he is a legal consultant for the City of Harare instead of being the lead official in policy formulation and decision-making. That needs to change. I know that Masunda has the capacity to lead, but he needs to get away from populism and rhetoric.
Leaders who demonstrate persistence, tenacity, determination and synergistic communication skills will bring out the same qualities in their groups. Good leaders use their own inner mentors to energise their team and organisations and lead a team to achieve success.
BY PRECIOUS SHUMBA
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