Online Reporter
Debra Matabvu
IN 2012, the Harare City Council unveiled an ambitious plan to turn Zimbabwe’s capital into a world-class city by the year 2025.
Through what was branded as “Harare Vision 2025”, the local authority pledged to undertake a sweeping overhaul of the city’s infrastructure, amenities and public services to meet global standards.
The slogan “Harare to become a world-class city by 2025” was coined at Town House, sparking hope among residents for a modern and efficient urban centre.
Among its ambitious goals were a premium mass transit system, a regional transport hub, ample vehicle parking space and state-of-the-art infrastructure.
A world-class city, as defined by urban planning experts, includes efficient transportation systems, clean water supply, effective waste management, iconic skylines with skyscrapers and globally influential financial and cultural sectors.
Cities such as Cape Town, Kigali and Addis Ababa in Africa, alongside New York, London, Paris and Tokyo internationally, epitomise this utopia.
With just over a week remaining until Vision 2025’s target, Harare has made little progress towards these aspirations.
Instead, the city’s reality starkly contrasts with its lofty promises, exposing deep-rooted systemic failures.
A legacy of decline
Since 2000, when the opposition parties gained control of the city council, Harare has witnessed a steady decline in service delivery.
Basic urban necessities have become luxuries, with the council failing to provide clean water, reliable waste collection, functional road networks, and effective education and healthcare services.
Corruption scandals involving millions of dollars have marred the opposition-led administration, further undermining public trust. Frequent squabbles among council officials have also stalled critical decision-making processes. Former mayors Muchadeyi Masunda and Bernard Manyenyeni have repeatedly criticised councillors for their incompetence, labelling them “illegitimate and unfit” to manage the city’s affairs.
In an interview, Mr Manyenyeni said the fundamentals required for Harare to be a “world-class city” were not in place.
“All the fundamentals required for an ordinary city, let alone for making one a world-class city, are in deficit,” he said.
He cited lack of leadership transparency and lack of accountability by the city councillors and officials as some of the reasons for the failure.
A health and sanitation crisis
Harare’s inability to provide clean water and proper sanitation has had devastating consequences.
Over the past five years, the city has endured two cholera outbreaks, in 2019 and 2023, with the first one claiming over 50 lives.
These outbreaks were directly linked to poor sanitation and inadequate water supply in residential areas.
Most suburbs rarely receive municipal water due to aged infrastructure and mismanagement. Burst sewer pipes have become commonplace, exacerbating health risks. The council has acknowledged the urgent need to replace its outdated water and sewer systems, which can no longer meet the demands of Harare’s growing population.
Harare’s population has ballooned from around 600 000 residents at independence in 1980 to approximately 1 850 000, as per the latest population census in 2022.
Informal settlements, urban decay
The rapid growth of informal settlements has compounded the city’s challenges.
Land barons, mostly working with city councillors and officials, have taken advantage of weak urban planning regulations, leading to illegal developments on wetlands and in areas earmarked for public infrastructure such as schools, power lines and railways.
These informal settlements have even encroached on the central business district (CBD), further straining the city’s limited resources.
According to Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume, there are over 100 000 illegal households across the city, amid concerns that the number of irregular houses could soon surpass those on the city’s books.
“The irregular settlements number over 100 000 houses in and around Harare,” wrote Cllr Mafume on X recently.
“The illegal houses will soon outnumber the legal rate-paying houses of Harare. The 322 000 legal households will foot the bill for everyone.”
In recent years, these informal settlements have begun encroaching on the CBD and some of the city’s more affluent suburbs.
Harare’s 2025 budget acknowledged the challenges posed by these settlements, but offered few tangible solutions.
Presenting the budget recently, Harare’s finance and development committee chairperson Councillor Costa Mande said: “The growth of informal settlements presents significant challenges for the City of Harare in terms of providing basic services and managing urban developments.”
He could not proffer any solutions to the crisis. Meanwhile, the proliferation of tuck shops, churches and bottle stores in the CBD has further eroded the city’s aesthetic value and infrastructure.
Neglected public amenities
Harare’s public amenities paint a grim picture of the city.
Council-run schools and clinics have been neglected to the extent that the Government had to come to the rescue of health facilities in 2020. Iconic sports facilities such as Gwanzura Stadium, Dzivaresekwa Stadium and the City Sports Centre have fallen into disrepair due to years of neglect.
The city’s road network has also deteriorated significantly.
This considerably impacts traffic flow, increases travel times and contributes to increased vehicle maintenance costs for residents. The development prompted the Government to intervene.
In 2021, the Government took over 200 kilometres of roads for maintenance under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme.
While this initiative led to the rehabilitation of over 30 roads, the overall state of Harare’s infrastructure remains dire, with the city council doing nothing about it.
Financial mismanagement, revenue leakages
The council’s financial woes are exacerbated by a dysfunctional billing system.
Harare has been operating without an effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) system since 2019, and this has had significant ramifications for its governance and financial management.
An ERP system is a type of software used by large organisations to manage and integrate the core processes needed to run a business, including finance, human resources, procurement, inventory, supply chain management and customer relationship management.
The absence of a functional ERP system has led to disorganised billing and poor revenue collection processes.
Many ratepayers complain of incorrect bills or receiving no bills at all, resulting in unpaid fees and significant revenue shortfalls.
City authorities estimate that the council could be losing more than US$70 million annually in uncollected revenue as a result of the absence of an ERP system.
Appearing before the Commission of Inquiry looking into the affairs of Harare, chaired by retired judge Justice Maphios Cheda, Harare Town Clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango said this staggering loss of revenue was estimated to have totalled US$350 million over the past five years.
The commission was established earlier this year to investigate corporate governance challenges that have plagued the Harare City Council over the past seven years.
Said Eng Chisango: “When we look at our budget, it is in excess of US$500 million per year, and then due to the system not operating well, our revenues are subdued to between 40 percent and 50 percent of what we should be collecting.
“An estimate would suggest that if I had a very functional system, I would probably collect 75 percent.
“So, the 25 percent shortfall is what I would actually attribute to the absence of the ERP system and we are probably looking at US$60 million to US$70 million a year.”
This significant loss of revenue has crippled the city’s ability to fund essential services. The city’s accounts department has faced heavy criticism for its lack of transparency and accountability.
Mr Manyenyeni believes Harare residents are partly to blame for the mess.
“There is also poor branding of Harare; there is a lot of bad publicity about the city, which the council has failed to manage,” he said.
“In addition, the quality of ratepayers that we have in Harare are not cut out for a world-class city; you will not find them in Vancouver or Cape Town, and these are some of the issues hindering the city from achieving a world-class status.”
Need for a new vision
Harare remains the only local authority yet to submit its new master plan for review, in line with a Government directive requiring all councils to update their operational manuals. Urban planning expert Dr Percy Toriro called for a complete overhaul of Harare’s master plan, which dates back to the early 1990s.
“Harare’s vision to be a ‘world-class city by 2025’ requires recasting and readjustment because there is still a lot of work to be done,” he said.
“There are two critical issues that require attention and these are town planning and infrastructure upgrades.
“Up until now, Harare is using a 1993 master plan and there are backlogs with detailed local plans.
“Most of the infrastructure upgrades that should have been implemented according to the 1993 master plan have not been implemented.
“Quick examples are unimplemented road projects, as well as water and sanitation upgrades. With the rapid urbanisation, a world-class status will be difficult to achieve without the two major enablers not having been addressed.”
He added: “It is encouraging that a new master plan is being prepared.
“This presents an opportunity to holistically address current challenges, so care should be taken to ensure it examines and addresses the city’s problems.”
Collective responsibility
Residents believe achieving even modest improvements requires collective effort.
Harare Residents Trust director Precious Shumba called for greater Government support. “Rates alone are inadequate to fund service delivery in Harare,” he said.
“We are concerned that the City of Harare does not have substantive directors in major departments of finance, chamber secretary and human capital. Acting directors will not make much impact given their vulnerability to manipulation by councillors and Government bureaucrats.”
Meanwhile, in just 10 days, Harare’s Vision 2025 will face the stark reality of its unfulfilled promise. A vision born in the corridors of Town House and sold as a beacon of hope to residents will lie in shambles, weighed down by years of neglect, corruption, mismanagement and disjointed leadership.
