"Sunshine City!" How laughable it is today. Sun? Shining? In Harare?
There was a time when Harare could proudly stand and proclaim itself the biggest, brightest and hottest city of them all.
Coming to Harare used to mean stepping into the big city -- if not the all-alluring aura, the wide and smart streets and avenues, then it was the modern life that stretched the width and breadth of the city.
The Government had to intervene through the beautification programme of the capital that was initiated as part of preparations for the 44th SADC Summit for heads of State and governments.
This resulted in the rehabilitation of the city's roads, sprucing up of buildings, repair of street lights and traffic lights. The Government had to take over in the service delivery of Harare from the inept and corrupt opposition to save the city.
Today, although not at its best, Harare is a lot better than it was before; the Government intervened and took over not only the provision of water in the city; it also ensured that there was order in the Central Business District.
Before the intervention by the Central Government, telling someone that Harare used to be smart and inviting, could sound like a narration out of an 1880 movie, yet that is what the city actually used to be.
Because of the failure by the opposition-led councils to deliver services, human waste drenched alleys, congested driveways, litter in every corner, potholes, dysfunctional traffic lights, beggars and vendors have come to define Harare.
Set up on September 12, 1890 as the last fort for the Pioneer Column, and immediately named Salisbury by Cecil John Rhodes, the city was to be renamed Harare after Zimbabwe became independent in 1980. The city maintained its glow and vibrancy for the better part of the 80s and 90s.
Then came opposition politics at the beginning of the millennium, with Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC winning control of major urban councils. The decline of Harare into the present chaotic situation had just only begun.
To compound the situation, massive rural-to-urban migration set in and the city fathers were at wit's end, short on strategy, conviction and experience on how to handle the ballooning population, with its attendant rising demands: water reticulation, sewer management, traffic control, energy demands, road maintenance, human behaviour and public amenities provision.
With an estimated two million people resident in the city today -- that is to include the main city with its satellites of Ruwa, Chitungwiza and Norton -- a number that occasionally rises during the day as others travel for day business in the city, providing for such a population has proved beyond the capacity of city fathers.
For instance, public toilets which the council should have made available to shoppers, travellers and businesspeople, are as scarce as an ice block in the Sahara.
If they are not always locked up, where they are available, one has to pay to access them. Charges often range from 50c to use them, which may be a lot for a hard-pressed individual.
This policy still remains murky and literary raises a stink, in that no-one knows if it is council policy to sell toilet space to hard-pressed citizens, or it could be greedy city workers out to fleece the public.
How many times have you seen Harare City Council bills running with the "Sunshine City", adding to the sense of irony?
Lack of toilets, has resulted in individuals dashing to the nearest alley to relieve themselves.
Where the city fathers have failed, like the provision of basic amenities like rubbish bins and toilets, the citizenry has not equally disappointed as vandalism and littering have become a common feature in the capital.
Rubbish bins that are supposed to be of general good do not last long as they are torn to pieces, leaving citizens with no option but to dispose of litter everywhere.
Just the other evening, this writer picked a fierce verbal fight with a couple whose four-year-old son threw garbage in the once prestigious Leonid Brezhnev Avenue Shopping Centre car park.
This writer counselled the parents to discourage their son from littering to which his grown father answered in vernacular:
"Zvine basa rei? Ndiye atanga kurasira marara ipapa?" (Does it matter? Is he the first to litter this place?")
Further counsel drew ire and a hot exchange that almost degenerated into a fist fight. All this, just being proof that civic rights education needs to be compulsory to both residents and visitors to Harare.
If they are not vandalising public utilities, then they are either spitting or blowing their noses everywhere.
Just for kicks, try counting the number of saliva spots you are likely to meet along First Street!
Citizens have measured up to their city fathers in removing the sunshine in from the city.
The other scourge that has hit Harare hard is that of street side vendors. It is now an uphill battle to be a pedestrian in Harare, lest one steps on heaps of tomatoes, onions and other vegetables.
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In a recent conversation, renowned urban planner Dr Percy Toriro who is now based in West Africa said Harare used to be a clean city with a functional waste management system.
"The city got an award as the cleanest city in Africa in 1998,that was received by the then mayor, Solomon Tawengwa. This is important in reminding residents and officials that it is possible to make Harare the Sunshine City it used to be. This will require investing in the right equipment, wise management of fees paid, and public support.
"The irony is that residents in clean cities avoid littering, whereas residents of dirty cities have a low consciousness towards cleanliness and worsen their situation. The best practice is that everyone has a role to play; council collects refuse regularly, and residents ensure they keep their environments clean. We also must adopt integrated solid waste management where we also reuse, reduce and recycle waste to reduce volumes taken to the landfill," said Dr Toriro.
The rot that has been unravelled by the on-going hearings being conducted by the Justice Maphios Cheda-led Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the Harare City Council has left the residents astounded.
It is this writer's prayer that the commission will restore sanity and bring back the sunshine into Harare!
