The Sunday Mail
Professor Innocent Chirisa
If one was getting into the CBD for 50c, the new move was to make them fork out additional 30c or brave the sun, the winds and the rains to work and back to the pick-up/drop-off point.
That is harsh for our citizens.
Harare’s authorities are setting a record for impulsive decisions.
One will remember that the capital city was the epicentre of the May 2005 Operation Murambatsvina. The city again was the initiator of the ultimatum against vendors.
A decision to cut water supplies triggered the 2008-2009 cholera outbreak. It was also the capital city that started an ill-thought fight against pirate taxis commonly referred to as “mushikashika”.
In all cases, the results have been catastrophic.
We have cities like Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare, Kadoma and Masvingo where authorities face their fair share of challenges but never seem to blunder the way Harare does.
Officially, Harare has a population of above 1,4 million residents and authorities at Town House say they serve an additional two million people from surrounding areas like Chitungwiza, Ruwa, Epworth, Norton, Beatrice and Christon Bank.
Beyond these are Marondera, Mvurwi, Juru, Chivhu and Bindura.
The existence of the towns, growth points and satellites should be seen as a blessing and never a curse to the City of Harare.
Harare is a city of potential social and economic vibrancy. It is a city that depicts urban primacy.
Harare is a major attractor of investment and employment. In terms of tertiary education, the city houses higher learning institutions like the University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Open University, Women’s University in Africa, Harare Institute of Technology and the Catholic University in Zimbabwe.
Universities from other cities such as NUST, MSU, Solusi and Africa University have in the past few years expanded their catchment area to Harare.
In light of this, the “studentisation” of the capital is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored.
Although industry is reeling, the informal sector, the small-to-medium enterprises and education are alive and doing very well.
These sectors are a major driver in spurring transportation and mobility in Harare.
Again on the physical nature of the city, all roads, from outside, in all directions radiate into the city centre.
More than 60 years ago, the idea of the Salisbury (now Harare) Drive crossed the minds of colonial urban planners.
The road was constructed and only a stretch of less than 10 kilometres (between Msasa and Waterfalls) remained.
The idea was to steer unnecessary traffic away from the city centre.
It is high time that the local authority think hard on getting resources to have the 10km stretch complete.
It should not end there. There is need to create vibrant and functional nodes.
The nodes can be designed into full-fledged shopping centres where major stores and road ports (interchanges) exist.
It can be possible that one coming from Mutare drops of at the Msasa Harare Drive junction, gets into the central business district by shuttles that can, for example, carry 75 passengers.
That way we curb massive population of kombis (most which lack in critical servicing) as well as mushikashikas. Mass transit is encouraged and we always know that buses are efficient users of space.
At the node, park-and-ride will be facilitated.
Of course, all these require huge capital outlays but that is why smart partnerships exist. The local authority should be in the business of finding out how this can work.
Adoption of genuine mass transit nodes will help reduce road fares for the ordinary consumer. Kombis can be allowed to operate only between the nodes and say Mabvuku, the node and Highfield.
The suggested points by the City of Harare are indicative of the bigger solution to the problem.
The problem is the simplistic and cohesive manner in which it has been done. The current style by Harare City Council typifies what we refer to as “war-time planning”. It is reactionary and does not have a human face.
Good planning is one which is sensitive to the needs and plight of the people.
If one was getting into the CBD for 50c, the new move was to make them fork out additional 30c or brave the sun, the winds and the rains to work and back to the pick-up/drop-off point.
That is harsh for our citizens.
The question is: where are the experts to offer advice? I know they are there, but no one listens to them.
The reason why universities and colleges are said to be producing theoretical people is that policy-makers are too adamant to listen to the advice obtained from theory.
The adage, “There’s nothing so practical as good theory” as attributed to Kurt Lewin, one of the founding fathers of social psychology, can be argued to be true.
It is high time we push whoever is in authority at Town House to listen to the “theorists”.
City authorities should also take a lesson from the Mbudzi “roadport”. It is the people who started it after realising the area addressed their needs.
Professor Innocent Chirisa is the University of Zimbabwe Department of Rural and Urban Planning chairperson. He wrote this article for The Sunday Mail
