Editor - Towards the end of last year, the media was awash with 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.
The mayor is confident of his performance since coming into office on an MDC-T ticket, elected by all elected councillors. Harare residents did not directly elect him into office.
The mayor has, since coming into office in 2008, been lambasting 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 him 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 seek another term.
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 significantly failed to influence service provision. Instead, they have been heavily involved in contests for power and authority over city workers and have been engaged in often dirty warfare with incumbent Members of Parliament.
The community leaders have failed to convene feedback meetings, updating residents of what they are doing on their behalf. They cannot earn, no matter what amount, without explaining their roles.
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 like cars and houses to be able to lead extravagant 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 imitate Nigerians in terms of dressing and speech to showcase their new-found status of ill-gotten wealth.
Despite their shortcomings, councillors, in the words of Warship Dumba, are the elected links between the council and the community in the council's quest for service delivery. Councillor Dumba said they are the custodians of the people's assets within council. He says a councillor is a resident sent by other residents to represent them in council on matters affecting their everyday life.
Now, as the debate on whether or not to retain Masunda as the mayor of Harare rages on, key issues that should be under consideration include, but not limited to the policy direction the council seeks to follow in 2012 and the ability of council to develop alternative strategies to mobilise resources to sustain its operations than continue to depend on residents, already overburdened.
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.
In assessing the competence of the mayor, there is need to critically examine his leadership style, his decisiveness when guiding policy discussions during full council meetings and obviously his handling of internal conflict among councillors, city managers and his appreciation of the challenges and opportunities facing the City of Harare.
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 must 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 them to achieve success.
According to the National School Boards Association (NSBA) in the United States, when leading a group there must be an awareness of unity on the part of all its members, there must be inter-personal relationship.
Members must have a chance to contribute and learn from and work with others. The members must have the ability to act together towards a common goal.
The NSBA says there are some characteristics of well-functioning teams, which include purpose, priorities, roles, decisions, conflict, and personal traits among others. Members of a group know what needs to be done next, by whom, and by when to achieve team goals. Authority and decision-making lines are clearly understood.
Conflict is dealt with openly and is considered important to decision-making and personal growth.
Members feel their unique personalities are appreciated and well utilised. Group norms for working together are set and seen as standards for everyone in the groups.
For effectiveness, members find team meetings efficient and productive and look forward to this time together.
Mayor Masunda has to exert his influence on everything that happens in council because at the end of the day, the residents will hold him accountable for the successes and failures of the City of Harare.
Let there be real change within the corridors of power at Town House. We expect no more unnecessary delays in policy implementation by the Town Clerk and this "no hurry attitude" by senior council management. Harare needs real leadership to take the citizenry back to the Sunshine City days when professionalism and hard work were visible for all to experience. It is either sink or swim in 2012.
Precious Shumba
Coordinator
Harare Residents' Trust
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form