EDITOR, I am a Zimbabwean citizen who has travelled extensively across the world and has been shocked by mediocrity that we are being subjected to by our local authorities in terms of service delivery.
What leaves one with a bitter taste in the mouth is the fact that councils are collecting significant revenue from hard-pressed ratepayers.
How that revenue is not translating to meaningful and visible results is what boggles the mind!
Harare, for instance, has a twinning arrangement with Munich but a simple analysis of the two cities shows painfully contrasting results.
Sometime last year, we were told that the Harare City Council had acquired refuse trucks but what we see in the city centre and everywhere is an eyesore.
What are those trucks being used for? Which areas are they collecting refuse from?
Editor, there are genuine fears that waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid are almost upon us if the water that residents are drinking across the country is anything to go by.
The problem that I have noted with great concern is that our councils are being run by ‘functionally illiterate’ councillors who are more interested in allowances than offering service.
Political parties must look at certain requisite qualifications when nominating potential candidates for council elections.
These characters we have at the helm of our local authority are nothing more than Micky Mouse personalities playing with our lives.
These councils must be restructured so that we have properly run local authorities.

Garikai Chimedza,Highlands