….as they march to Town House in their hundreds

The residents’ march that was conducted today, 5 October 2009 in the City Centre clearly showed the discontent and displeasure of residents towards the poor state of service delivery in Harare in light of the service charges that Council has imposed. The March, in which more than 500 residents participated, took off at 11 am and residents made their way to Town House singing protest songs.

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) is conducting a peaceful march on Monday the 5^th of October 2009. Protesters are marching from corner 1^st street and Gorge Silundika at 11 00 hrs into Inez Terrez and then Julius Nyerere up to Town House. They will be submitting a petition to His Worship the Mayor of the City of Harare at about 1150 hrs. The Mayor is expected to address the protesters. The police have since cleared the march and are expected to help keep peace and order. The march is a protest against the following issues;

·         Exorbitant Rates and other levies being charged by the City Council

17 September 2009 

The Sixth floor of the City of Harare’s Department of Engineering and Urban Planning offices, Cleveland House, went up in smoke on Wednesday, 15 September 2009 after an electric fault had occurred. The unfortunate incident opened a Pandora’s Box as it emerged that this part of the building was actually not being used as offices but has been housing at least twenty families of the Council workers. CHRA is reliably informed that Cleveland House has been accommodating about twenty Council workers who were affected by Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 and that these people have been staying in Cleveland for the past four years.