NEWSDAY reporter Sharon Buwerimwe (ND) caught up with recently re-elected Harare mayor Jacob Mafume (JM) for an interview to discuss his plans after bouncing back into office The mayoral post became vacant following the recall first of ward 18 councillor Ian Makone and then that of ward 36 councillor Lovejoy Chitengu by Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) self-proclaimed interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu Chitengu was elected last month following the recall of Makone Mafume becomes the third Harare mayor since the August elections Below are excerpts of the interview ND: What are your plans as the new mayor Harare is grappling with a cholera outbreak Do you have plans to curtail the disease JM:The first plan is to stabilise the city We are in a dire situation around issues of water We need to produce a certain amount of water that allows people to use the precious liquid at their homes, so the first task is to be able to see the efforts of our own council and create an ecosystem that is able to provide water for everyone Secondly, the issues of waste management, we need a quick programme to be able to deal with waste The accumulation of waste has become a huge problem and we need a rapid results programme that we are going to launch shortly to be able to deal with the issues of waste tractors We want the government to allow us to use the tractors that came from Belarus These tractors are sitting on a farm somewhere I think someone from the government thinks that tractors can give birth and they are keeping them there to mate with each other I don’t know whatever reason it is But we do hope that they can release them so that we can use them to carry litter before they degrade beyond being able to be used We are anxiously waiting for Finance minister Mthuli Ncube to approve our borrowing powers so that we can get on with the work So those are the priorities currently ND: Last week, nearly 15 houses were flooded in the Budiriro 4 Paddock area as well as Kuwadzana Extension The ZRP Sub-Aqua Unit was deployed to these areas, where 19 families were rescued from their flooded homes What are you planning to do about the settlement issue JM:We are also addressing the issue of settlements We know there are floods, people are living in areas where they are not supposed to be living I also visited Budiriro to see the houses Housing is a city problem and a national problem We need to find a solution around housing Firstly, we need to deal with the approval of our houses What we define as a house is now a colonial structure We need to change our materials, we need to reduce the cost for someone building a house so that they don’t stay in shacks Source: The Standard Zimbabwe All Zim News is a central hub for all things Zimbabwean, curating news from across the country so no story is missed Alongside aggregation, our team of nationwide reporters provides real-time, on-the-ground coverage Stay informed and connected — reach us at admin@allzimnews.com. Source: Thestandard
