Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Freeman Razemba 

Senior Reporter 

THE rehabilitation of the 6km Chitungwiza Road is now complete and open to traffic while Government has moved on to construct a 790-metre link road and a bridge along Harare Drive in Houghton Park area as progress continues to be made under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2). 

Government has also opened to traffic another 3km stretch along the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway just after the Skyline tollgate while road markings and final clearing works have been done on Masotsha Ndlovu Way, the main road running across southern Harare. 

The road was opened to traffic yesterday.

Plans to relocate the Skyline Tollgate to the 36km peg along the Harare-Masvingo Road, moving it outside the present urban conglomeration, are at an advanced stage.

Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) board chairperson Dr George Manyaya said Zinara had enough money for the move.

The reconstructed 6km stretch of Chitungwiza Road, done by local company Syvern Contracting, runs south from Manyame River Bridge to the intersection of Tilcor Road and Chitungwiza Road in the town’s industrial areas. The rebuilt road links to the US$88 million Mbudzi interchange, High Glen Road to Bulawayo Road and Machipisa.

The 790 metre Harare Drive link road, which is brand new, is also part of the Mbudzi interchange which is set to ease the major traffic jams in the south of the city.

A bridge is currently being constructed and the road stretches from a roundabout along Simon Mazorodze Road and passes between Houghton Park, Waterfalls Community Hall and Parktown to link into Masotsha Ndlovu Way which also stretches from Simon Mazorodze Road to Seke Road. 

President Mnangagwa launched the US$400 million ERRP2, a countrywide initiative meant to improve the country’s road network and catch up on years of neglect by urban authorities. Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona and Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Harare Metropolitan Province Charles Tavengwa yesterday led a delegation on a tour of the rebuilt roads in Harare and Chitungwiza.

In an interview, Minister Mhona said: “Let me first commend the Fourth Estate for taking this time to showcase to the people of Zimbabwe what the Second Republic is doing being championed by His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. 

“If you remember very well, we started in Chitungwiza where we were rehabilitating close to 6km and for those who have been following that stretch of a road was in a very sorry state for some time. 

“But again when we say we have a listening President, when I approached His Excellency he said I want that road rehabilitated with speed and precisely this what we have done.

“He was happy that the project was being championed by a woman who was empowered by the Second Republic to partake in the construction works and she had demonstrated that she can do the work.

“I am also appealing to the people of Zimbabwe, especially to the women and youths, to participate in road rehabilitation and infrastructural development so that we take advantage of the policy that, “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo”, the mantra that his Excellency is running with. And from Chitungwiza Road we then moved to Harare-Beitbridge Road where we have opened 3km today, passing through the tollgate and I would also like to deliver the message to the people of Zimbabwe that we are also going to relocate the tollgate. 

“I have mandated Zinara together with the Department of Roads, so that we take advantage of what we have within our ministry, the CMED, so that we start working on a new tollgate at the new site”.

From the Harare-Beitbridge highway, the delegation toured the Mbudzi interchange now under construction before moving to Harare Drive link road in Houghton Park.

“We passed through the Mbudzi interchange where massive infrastructure works are going on and I was also saying it’s also ideal for the people of Zimbabwe to see the massive amount of steel, cement that is going in right now as we speak. As we develop this infrastructure we also have tours to promote; it could be educational trips so that people see and appreciate how we are building our own country.

“And today we are here, the missing link of Harare Drive and a number of people might not be aware that such kind of a road exists and I am happy to say that we are now going to be connecting Simon Mazorodze and Masotsha Ndlovu and this is the missing link. It’s under the scope of the interchange and this is also what we are rehabilitating,” Minister Mhona said. 

He said the contractor had promised that the project will be complete during the first quarter of next year.

“The idea is to decongest the interchange and we are not only going to leave the interchange as it is but we will also attend to the roads within the presence of the interchange. This is what we are also going to be doing. And from the interchange we are now going to be moving to Manyame Bridge again so that we will connect with the road that we have opened”.

Minister Mhona said the continuing major works were not confined to Harare but the ministry team was visiting other provinces.

He said they now have a framework that they are going to be using with Zinara where they are going to facilitate the availability of fuel to Rural District Councils and other road authorities so that they execute with speed the idea of rehabilitating roads.

In an interview, Minister Tavengwa applauded what the Second Republic is doing, saying it will go a long way in serving motorists and the people when travelling.

“This is much appreciated and we thank you (the Transport Ministry) for the works that you are doing not only in Harare but countrywide. And I would also want to thank our President, His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa for ensuring that no one is left behind in terms of road rehabilitation and infrastructural development countrywide,” he said.

Meanwhile, some motorists and residents have applauded the Government for rehabilitating roads in Harare.

A motorist, Mr Munashe Betera, said: “I would want to thank the Government for rehabilitating some of the roads in Harare, especially in Chitungwiza which were in a bad state. As for us motorists including trucks that are driven to different destinations, it’s now a relief for us.”

A resident Mr Christopher Kampiyawo said the good condition of the roads meant that motorists were now going use less fuel when driving and even be spared of buying spare parts which were being damaged as a result of the bad state of some of the roads. 

“The (Chitungwiza) road is now excellent and there are no more potholes. The road is now smooth and you can even use less fuel when driving than before. This is excellent work that has been done by the Second Republic,” he said.

So far more than 50 000km of roads have been rehabilitated while 2 000 structures have been attended to since the start of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2) in 2021.

In an ideal world when a crime is committed, the police investigate, track down the perpetrator, assemble the evidence and build a case with the prosecutors, the trial opens and ends and within a month the erroneously arrested innocent are free and the guilty are paying fines, starting community service or being loaded into the van for their jail term.

Of course we do not live in an ideal world, and so delays arise and are created, crimes are unsolved, prosecutions are half-hearted, some of the guilty spend years out on bail and eventually escape justice, others manage through hard work by well-paid defence council to edge their way round the law. 

And all that is without anyone in the police, other investigation units, the Prosecutor-General’s Office, or the courts being offered or accepting bribes.

While some mess and delay is inevitable, as it grows people become resigned and victims of crime just become so disenchanted with the whole criminal justice system that they give up and accept what they see as gross unfairness in their life. 

And then we can start treading very dangerous ground: private revenge being one extreme, so people who have no knowledge of law or what is appropriate set themselves up as police officer, judge and all too often executioner. 

Then we have the other extreme, people thinking that if so many others can escape justice, well why should not they start thieving and robbing and dealing corruptly as well. So it gets worse. Crime grows and the whole criminal justice system can be overwhelmed.

Our new Prosecutor-General Justice Loyce Matanda Moyo has been stressing this as she consolidates her grip on her office and her function and on her staff of prosecutors and lawyers. 

She has already made improvements in processes, and has a precise and detailed list of what more needs to be done and what sort of back up in equipment, facilities, training and the way prosecutors need to work.

So we get what has already been done to provide access to laptops and computers and building up a proper e-library of law. Just because our criminal law was codified does not mean that the code contains the whole lot. 

A large number of offences, from traffic offences through the breaches of the tax code and those messing around the outer reaches of corruption are breaking other laws, and prosecutors need to know these quickly and precisely as they assess the evidence and see what the provable facts imply may or may not have been broken. Too often the wrong charge is laid.

The moves by the judiciary to move to e-documentation for the whole of the High Court work, as well as the higher courts, means that the Prosecutor-General must be able to follow suit, which can now be done with the first computer lab in Harare, but the other High Court centres need this as well. 

But cutting back on building vast paper files will free up more prosecutor hours for refining cases and going to court, so even if a print out is needed at the end, having the whole thing in a database improves efficiency.

The most interesting impression we get as she settles in is that she is not seeing improvement as the most important and overriding goal. 

She assumes that is happening and will continue to happen, but it is happening as a by-product of what she sees as the most critical concept, just how far from the ideal is her Office and how quickly can it attain the ideals, that is helping to deliver the criminal justice that everyone wants to see: fast, efficient, accurate and defending the rights of all.

The criminal justice system needs to be fair to everyone: the victims of crime, the witnesses and others brought in to give evidence, and of course the accused, who have a constitutional right to a fair trial. 

But she wants that fairness to extend just as much to those who have suffered hurt and loss as to making sure that the person brought to court is the right person and that solid factual evidence is presented at the trial with no speculation added and, importantly, nothing suppressed through incompetence or corruption or interference.

In her long career, she has worked as a prosecutor, judge, chaired the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and now comes in at the top of the prosecution service. She acknowledges her ZACC experience, when she did at times complain about lack of cooperation between investigators and prosecutors.

She wants to fix that, and it is an important point that needs to be fixed. Zimbabwe still tends to follow the English ideal that a criminal trial is a battle between two outside independent barristers brought in by the defence and the prosecution to trade blows in front of a referee, the judge. 

In English courts it is not unknown for the same pair of barristers to appear in one trial for prosecution and defence and in the next trial switch roles; they are just the legal champions without any tie to the case.

Most jurisdictions outside Britain and some Commonwealth countries now place a lot more emphasis on first finding out what happened, what are the facts. 

In that process those responsible for prosecution and the investigators tend to work more closely together, which also helps to ensure that there are no serious gaps in the thread of events, so the arguments can then switch to law and interpretation. 

This process both weeds out dubious prosecutions unbacked by fact, as well as ensuring that proper prosecutions do have the facts.

And when we are talking about moving as fast as possible from arrest to trial we see nothing wrong in prosecutors being able to press investigators to complete their side of the case, just as investigators need to be able to seek a swifter prosecution once the facts are assembled.

Another area where prosecutors will have to be more active is in their participation in the sentencing hearing once an accused has been found guilty. 

This is an extension of the old system where the magistrate or judge just asked for mitigation or aggravation. Now more evidence as to damage to individuals, communities and the nation has to be given, as well as the more personal details concerning the guilty person and the circumstances of the crime that have always been sought.

Under the new sentencing guidelines, designed to end wild or objectionable differences in sentences in similar cases, a judge or magistrate starts off with the presumptive sentence, and then moves the penalty up and down the scale according to a range of factors to find the most just particular sentence. 

It is all fairly new, and already there is debate on some decisions as there should be, and we hope that the Supreme Court will be invited to give its views on some decisions both where the sentence seems on the low side as well as when it might be on the high side. 

But already it is obvious that the prosecutor needs to be armed with a lot more than in the past when it comes to dealing with a convicted criminal, and to make sure that this second part of the trial is as fair to victim and society as it is to accused. 

Sentencing has always been seen as those presiding over criminal cases as far more difficult than determining guilt or non-guilt, which after all some countries allow a jury of people off the street to decide, although with a judge setting the specific questions that need to be decided. So we need to get this right as well.

Wallace Ruzvidzo

Herald Reporter

All local authorities have been directed to come up with implementation matrices detailing the actions they will undertake to ensure quality and unfettered service delivery for the benefit of ratepayers.

The directive was given yesterday by Local Government and Public Works Minister, Winston Chitando, at the launch of the operationalisation of the local government blueprint and unpacking the gender responsive toolkit to council chairpersons and mayors.

Minister Chitando directed local authorities to prioritise service delivery as the country journeys towards the attainment of Vision 2030 of an upper middle income society.

“In this vein, all local authorities will now localise and operationalise the dictates of the blueprint and ensure prompt response to the ‘call to action without compromising service delivery’,” said Minister Chitando.

“Each local authority must now come up with an implementation matrix spelling out a clear roadmap that shows actions to be taken to deliver quality and unfettered services to the people. This an instruction that all local authorities should implement and provide traceable evidence of progress in a dash board format.”

Apart from crafting roadmaps, local authorities were also challenged to set targets and deliver on them, to inspire investor confidence, which would in turn see accelerated development in their communities.

Minister Chitando said service provision and delivery have gone down the drain in most local authorities, especially in urban areas led by the opposition.

“As such, I am directing that every local authority must come up with service delivery targets that aim at creating safe habitats which promote investor confidence and in turn develop the councils and communities across the country,” he said.

“The attainment of Vision 2030 is indeed an achievable dream if local authorities work towards operationalisation of this blueprint. People must see, live and observe an upper-middle income society not only from the income per capita point of view, but also from the services they receive from Government and local authorities similarly.

“We need to provide world class services that will boost confidence of ratepayers in our local authorities.” 

Councils were also challenged to champion gender equality through gender responsive budgeting.

The inclusion of women and youths, said Minister Chitando, must remain a critical pillar in implementing the ‘call to action without compromising service delivery’ blueprint. 

“It is common knowledge that gender-responsive budget works for everyone (women and men, girls and boys) by ensuring gender-equitable distribution of resources and by contributing to equal opportunities for all.

“As we also launch this gender responsive budgeting toolkit, it is essential to observe that the same is vital both for gender and fiscal justice. The toolkit aims to assist managing local authorities to apply gender budgeting tools in their processes.

“Government and all local authorities have a duty to promote gender equality by implementing the legal and political commitments in the national Constitution,” he said. 

Government has made strides in promoting women participation in decision making in local governance through the 30 percent women’s quota councillors.

The iwomen’s quota has seen an increase in the number of councillors by 587 women across all councils.