| SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
The
AIDS epidemic has caused the mortality rate to increase. Infant
mortality should be decreasing as a result of increased immunization and
health education. Instead, infant mortality is rising each year due to
HIV/ AIDS, which is affecting city population significantly with 25
percent of the population being HIV positive and 2 percent suffering
from the disease. More than 50 percent of outpatients presently have
problems associated with HIV. 75 percent of inpatients suffer from
conditions associated with HIV. As a result, life expectancy has
decreased to below 50 years. HIV has also caused an increased number of
tuberculosis cases creating a resistance to normal treatment.
About 10 percent of the workforce is lost annually due to AIDS. This
impact on the national economy is a 5 percent decrease in economic
growth rate. There is no information on death rates as death
certificates are not endorsed by AIDS. The disease is affecting both
males and females from the ages 15 to 45 and infants from ages I to 5
years of. The health system has been deteriorating over the years as
facilities run out of drugs, food and personnel. Medical fees are costly
and have become out of reach for the poor.
The city environment is becoming less safe. There has been an alarming
increase in crime due to high unemployment rates, high costs of living
and poverty. The crime rates are likely to be higher than documented
since many cases go unreported. Neighbourhood watch committees have been
formed to guard against crime and have been quite effective. Police
patrols have also been increased. While there have been no cases of
violence in schools, no policy yet exists against domestic violence.
Crime prevention and weapon control policies do exist.
Urban poverty is increasing due to 24.2 percent unemployment and high
cost of living as a result of a high inflation rate.
Some people receive food subsistence and educational assistance from the
Social Welfare. The value of this assistance however has been eroded by
high inflation. The poor have no access to land or to purchasing it land
since they lack credit and financial security.
Access to basic service is available to the poor. Due to high inflation,
a greater part of the population is falling under the poverty line. The
high cost of medical fees in Municipal clinics and other health
institutions have made them out of reach for the poor.
The 1993 school enrollment figures showed that the female enrolment was
slightly above that of male enrollment. This can be attributed to the
promotion of the girl-child education. 1998 enrolment figures show that
male enrolment for secondary and tertiary schools is slightly above
female enrolment. Overall, the enrolment of females has increased
significantly over the past few years.
Ideally male and female education levels will equalize.
· The adult literacy rate in Mutare is 93.5 for females and 94.6 for
males.
· Life expectancy shows a difference of one in favour of females.
· The unemployment rate of 24.3 percent include both males and females.
It should also be noted that there are far fewer females in formal
employment who occupy managerial posts than men. Gender equality
promotion will improve this situation. There are far more women in the
informal sector of employment. In 1993 there were no female Councillors
in Mutare Council. Due to gender promotion, in 1998 there were two
female Councillors in the Municipality.
SHELTER
Mutare
is presently expriencing the immense challenge of providing adequate and
affordable housing for its residents. Housing stands cost a minimum of
US$564.10, which is not affordable to the average person. As a result,
over 10% of the population is on the housing waiting list.
The general economic decline and the high cost of living have reduced
the number of personally built houses. 30% of the city population is
residing in illegal wooden structures that have been built in the
courtyards of existing houses. Illegal structures have access to
services provided for the main house and as a result cause massive
overcrowding and overburdening of services.
In Mutare, 29.1% of households are woman-headed. Women are in a more
precarious tenure status than men with 66.8% of the 69.1% of households
in tenancy. 42.4% of these households are in sub-tenancy. It should also
be noted that of the 4.2% of the homeless, 4.1% are woman headed. There
has been no data collected on numbers of evictions.
Equal access to land is available, however through the Municipal waiting
list. Equal access to finance is limited. The informal sector has
difficulty accessing finance since security is required. As a result of
high interest rates, financing is out of reach for most. The poor cannot
afford to pay the high interest rates charged by financial institutions.
Women, who constitute the majority of the informal sector, have no
access to finance at all.
All residents have access to municipal water and proper sewerage
reticulation. In 1993, 81% had access to electricity, which reduced to
74% in 1998 as a result of a 38% increase in new households. In total,
this amounts to a 20% increase in total connections. Many newly
developed households are yet to be serviced with electricity because of
a lack of basic infrastructure and the high costs associated with
implementation.
In 1998, 4% of the population had telephone connections. The telephone
company is failing to meet the overwhelming demand for service as a
result of insufficient technical equipment and corruption.
In 1993, intra-city public transport was wholly operated by a parastatal
company. The average travel time was 45 minutes. In 1998, the public
transport industry was opened to private business and mini-buses were
introduced. Travel time was immediately reduced to 20 minutes as the new
businesses offered more effective and efficient means of transport. Work
trips by bus were reduced to .5 percent as commuters favoured the
minibus. The transport industry is a major source of environmental
pollution. A shortage of parking spaces in the city is evidence that
there presently exists an increase in the number of private cars on the
road. Due to the present economic collapse, the City council has
neglected to maintain the city roads and as a result, they are in a
terrible state of disrepair.
ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT
Both
male and female population growth rates were equal at 13.58 percent in
the period 1993-1998, whereas the annual growth rate was 5.43%. This
figure is below the national urban population growth rate of 18.23% for
males and 24.42% for females.
Population growth has not been matched by growth in infrastructure,
employment creation and basic services. As a result, housing has become
inadequate and unaffordable. A mushrooming of illegal wooden structures
in the courtyards of existing houses has created unmanageable densities.
These wooden structures have no service connections except in some cases
electricity. Water, sanitary and ablution facilities are communal
within a distance of 100m. Solutions must be found to address this
problem.
The city's potable water supply was boosted by the construction of the
Pungwe pipeline after the drought of 1992 that caused severe water
shortages in the city. The water pipe line necessitated a new water
price policy. Water supply for the city is harnessed some 100 km from
the city and is processed at the works 30 km from the city. The quality
of the water is of high standard and is above the limits of WHO
guidelines. The daily household consumption per person rose from 92
litres in 1993 to 139 litres 1998. The majority of households are on
piped water supply except for the city' s oldest surburb where some of
the households have communal water supply within a distance of lOOm.
Due to lack of equipment, the city is only measuring sulphur dioxide for
air pollution monitoring. The average annual concentration of sulphur
dioxide rose from 15.3 micro grams/M3 in 1993 to 18.57 micro grams/M3 in
1998. This increase is due to elevated industrial and vehicular
pollution. Most industries in Mutare depend on fossil fuels. The present
levels however are far below the WHO guideline standards. There is need
to reduce emissions to ensure a safe and clean environment.
Waste generated in the city is disposed of by controlled tipping at the
Municipal dump site. 1.2 percent in 1993 and 2.3 percent of paper was
recycled in 1998. A negligible amount of hospital waste is incinerated
at the only plant in the city. Due to unmanageable population densities,
the Municipality is experiencing difficulty with household garbage
collection. Ignited, roadside refuse heaps leave streets cluttered and
directly pollute the city air. The Municipal refuse collection fleet is
severely depleted and outdated, resulting in frequent breakdowns and
making effective collection impossible. Residents are being encouraged
to recycle and compost waste.
All wastewater from the city passes through the tertiary treatment works
before being discharged into out-flowing rivers.
Presently, there are no measures being undertaken for disaster
prevention and mitigation. In order to promote an effective and
environmentally sound transportation system, link roads have been
established, more commuter buses have been introduced, and the police
and vehicle inspection department are responsible for ensuring the
removal of defective vehicles. Private vehicle numbers have also
increased. Improvements in transportation have decreased average travel
time from 45 minutes to 20 from 1993 to 1998.
The city has established a long-term strategic planning initiative for
sustainable development involving key partners and local environmental
action plans.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
No
current data exists on the percentage of the total workforce that is
employed. Data from 1993 suggests that 10 percent of the population was
employed in the informal sector. Evidence of this is found in the market
place and small scale manufacturing sites that have been put in place to
cater to this sector. NGOs have also been assisting the informal sector
with the provision of small loans.
Public private partnerships have become common practice in Mutare. Some
have been effective and offered greater flexibility in management and a
higher degree of transparency, efficiency and accountability in their
operation. Cost recovery from the services is also higher.
The city product in Mutare has increased from 11 dollars per person in
1993 to 41 dollars per person in 1998. This trends depicts an increase
in urban economic development. The city's economy is developing faster
than the national economy, which was 10 dollars per person in 1998.
GOVERNANCE
Mutare
has a medium level of decentralization. Higher levels of government
however have the right to close local government, and remove councillors
from office. The only powers local governments have are to choose
contractors for projects. There are no transfer funds available to local
governments from higher levels.
Data from the year 2000 shows that cities are involving civil society to
participate in road and highway proposals, alterations in zoning, and
major public projects. Local participation projects have been adequate
and institutional and legal frameworks are sufficient to ensure the
right level of participation and civic engagement.
There is no data defining local government revenue and expenditures for
Mutare.
The city of Mutare is run by a Council consisting of 18 Councillors
including the Executive Mayor and the Executive. The
Councillors are elected into office by a public ballot in the 18 wards
of the city for a term of 4 years. The Councillors are
the policy makers. The Executive board comprise of Council
managerial staff headed by the Town Clerk. The
Executive is responsible for implementing Council policies.
The Central Government is continually in the process of
decentralising some of its responsibilities to Local
Governments. Responsibilities for health, education and
etc etc have already been shed to the Local Governments. The
Central Government is however not decentralising the resources
especially financial that go with the decentralised
responsibilities. Further , since about 5 years ago, the Central
Government has stopped assisting Local Authorities with financial
grants to support their operations .In most cases the
Central government is owing Local Authorities huge sums of money for
service delivery and etc etc.This has severely eroded the resource base
and contributed to the bankruptcy of Local Authorities resulting in poor
service delivery over the years.
Local Authorities are not able to set charges without the
approval of Central Government. As a result Council is forced to
subsidise its residents as the approved charges are not based on a cost
recovery concept. Fuel prices are going up five or so
times annually yet the Council only review charges once annually. As a
result, expenditure is far exceeded by revenue. This coupled with
the high inflation, has resulted in Council having to
operate an overdraft facility so as to survive. This
is costing Council $ 6 million monthly in terms of interest. Service
delivery has fallen to its lowest ebb in history in areas
like health, road maintenance, waste management and etc etc.
During the passing of a new budget, the Residents` Association is
consulted, Councillors also make consultations
with people in their wards. The intended budget is
also published in the press for public comments. It is felt that
there is need for more dialogue between the Council and the
community stakeholders . Council should be able to make the Community
understand its financial position and the justification to
raise the rates by the proposed percentage. This will
help restore trust and transparency between the two.
There is a level of transparency and accountability in that:
- there is independent auditing of municipal accounts.
- Contracts and tenders for Municipal services are published
- Disciplinary action against erring staff is in place
- There are laws on disclosure of
potential conflicts of interest
- The provision of an Executive Mayor and the Chamber Secretary's
department in
The Urban Councils Act is geared to improve governance.
Contact person:
EUNICE
MUYAMBUKI
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER
MUTARE CITY COUNCIL
MUTARE COUNCIL
E-mail:eunice@mutare.itresol.co.zw
Fax:67785
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