His Worship Bernard Gabriel Manyenyeni managed to slot us into his busy schedule at the last minute. He’s got a lot on his plate and, as he’s trying to find his feet, he’s frantically juggling his day job at Altfin Life Assurance with his new responsibilities. His day, he tells us, is starting an hour earlier and ends at least three hours later than normal.
The word ‘unenviable’ kept springing to mind as I prepared for this interview. It’s pretty obvious that Manyenyeni’s taking on a city that’s falling apart at the seams. Sitting in the Mayoral parlour, we get on to these issues rather quickly when I ask what he thinks are the biggest challenges facing us as a city.
“Our inability to meet our residents’ expectations to the full extent,” he says immediately. “Particularly water, roads, street lighting, housing…our failure to deal with this is a big challenge for the city. And the community is very sensitive to those shortcomings.”
We agree that some of these are also the most dangerous issues for Harare’s citizens. “We are going to look at everything in terms of priority. Each and every one of those things, and more, requires attention. We are going to see where the low hanging fruit is, where the quick wins are, where can we satisfy our residents more, equitably, quickest.” However he goes on to say, “The issues that are going to be difficult are the issues that have high resource requirement but with an equally high demand. Like water. It’s something that people want fixed over night but it is very much long term in terms of solutions. We are at a station where we are weighed down by a planning deficit. Phase One of Morton Jaffray is 60 years old. In the last 20–25 years we haven’t planned enough for water. People want their water but to rectify the planning deficits of the last 2–3 decades will be a challenge. The solutions cannot be immediate, even with the best will in the world.”
Then he throws in a comment that takes us a little by surprise: “It goes to a situation where we will look to our residents to look for local solutions. In my ward [17 – Mount Pleasant], we have approached a bank to fix all our potholes, the discussions are positive. If we all took it to a local level and said, how can we deal with potholes in Marlborough?…in Highfield?…there would be varying degrees of success.”
He says that it’s not something that residents would ordinarily be expected to do, so he’s sure he’ll face resistance. But, he reckons, there must be innovative ways to deal with the issues that are affecting residents now, at least in the short term.
This is part of the ‘change of mindset’ attitude that he’s been talking about since he came into office. Imploring residents to have a think about the way they live and move in this city and to understand that there are consequences to their actions.
“They must be part of the process, all the way. They must play their part, meet their obligations – bills, management of litter, traffic congestion, etc. – there are things that don’t require resources. You don’t need donor funding to manage a traffic jam. People don’t pay rates so that they can throw their litter for the council to pick up. It is that mindset that must be dealt with. The more they do the right things, the less costly it is for council to fix the rest.”
We ask what led him to become mayor; did his life prepare him for the role? “The road,” he tells us, “is probably less exciting than the decision. I was having a New Year’s Day lunch, and someone, I had never met, turned to me towards the end of the lunch and popped the question – ‘could you be Mayor of Harare?’ – totally out of the blue.” By the time dinner was served, which he had felt compelled to stay for, he had agreed to run.
He thinks his business background will hold him in good stead in this position. “I see Town House being the meeting point of business, politics and community work,” he explains. “Those three meet in Council. And the business and social interactions I have had over the years, built me into very diverse individual. I really relate well across all social strata.”
As councillor for Ward 17, Manyenyeni is aiming to be both a practical and accessible councillor and Mayor for the city. “My office is very accessible and I am already dealing with all manner of people on a variety of issues. I don’t think a resident of this city should find it too difficult to meet their mayor.”
Gracias carlillos.Hay dÃas que empiezo a pensar que es más cómodo y lucrativo citar a la NASA, y decirle a mi gente que no merece la pena contar la verdad.Saludos.
Absolutely, people love chocolate! I happen to be drinking from a branded water bottle right now. And you made a good point, you can do some things yourself. All it takes is a little creativity. Seeing a logo in unexpected places always gets people’s attention. Thanks for sharing; I’m glad you enjoyed the post!
“Because we’re supposed to be indeared to him except that he won’t let us becuase he’s a f***ing dick.”That’s kind of how I feel about Scarlett from Gone with the Wind. MAybe not as strongly, though.
I was drawn by the honesty of what you write
I haven't watched all the clips yet, due to my poor internet connection, but judging from what I've seen, James Ellroy seemed like quite an articulate, sophisticated fellow.By the way, I checked out The Fountainhead at the library. I love how Ayn Rand makes the characters in the book feel like people you'd know from real life without the writing actually coming across as writing, so to speak. I really feel sorry for all those students who had to read Anthem. They must have hated it if it was her worst book.
all be comparable in quality in terms…of the technical aspects of the writing.going multimedia with your blog postsa blog post needn’t be just a written article. it’s possible to embed photos, video, audio, graphics, tables and a variety of other multimedia elements. in fact, putting suc…
Awesome transformation – I liked the dress to start with, although I might have made it shorter, but it is fantastic with the sleeve inserts!! Your comment about the back scratcher and bikini made me smile, what a bonus to see a cute bloke in the op shop – I can't say I have ever seen one!!! Hope you have a fabulous weekend, enjoy the sun!!
Ja walczÄ™ o 1 ;-)Co powiem, macie ciekawe teksty i Å›wietnÄ… grafikÄ™ w postach. JesteÅ›cie moim Å›wieżym odkryciem co nie daje mi sposobnoÅ›ci przedstawienia najlepszego wpisu. Å»yczÄ™ wszystkiego dobrego na kolejny rok i dalej 😉
I think that’s a great idea, but you should probably put a high security deposit on her, because I have a feeling people won’t want to return her
ok, grazie! vi ho già inserito tra i preferiti! se il mio ragazzo li filma avrei un paio di tutorial da presentarvi (niente che a che fare con Photoshop, non sono un genio in tal proposito)!ciao
The spiritualist church was taken over a few years back by a group of homosexual mediums, these were quite blatent and would often turn up at meetings with a toy boy in tow, they would only promote other gay mediums and heteros got sidelined,a pressure group was formed to take it back and were met with much hostility.The catholic church was riven apart with homosexual preists, and the Church of england now votes for homosexuals to get married, why when studies show the average home relationship lasts 3 weeks ?Karen Cummings
Ist zwar ehrenwert von Weiodmann, aber er ist längst abgemeldet.Wir gehen mit Riesenschritten in eine Inflation und jeder weiß das auch
An gripping language is couturier note. I expect that you should correspond statesman on this message, it strength not be a inhibition person but mostly group are not sufficiency to speak on such topics. To the succeeding. Cheers like your Warm Welcome – Glasgow Recycling.
Ab fab my goodly man.
Jeg er medlem av acne gruppen pÃ¥ facebook og ble sÃ¥ lei da jeg fikk meldingen om 40% salg.. Ettersom jeg bor et stykke unna oslo kan jeg ikke akkurat ta meg en spontantur for Ã¥ shoppe pÃ¥ salg… elsker de genserne der har selv en i hvit og en i blÃ¥, meget bra kjøp 🙂
Nina – Thank you for sharing these beautiful pictures. Renae and Jan have many great photos and tons of memories thanks to your great talent.
I am struggling with my mind today too…. Not very often I can put things in words the way you do, so I find it comforting to read your words to know I am not alone…. I guess we all ghosts and we can never just walk away.I too will try to not give the past anymore energy and only look forward and be happy.Love you Sis, talk to you soon
Taking the overview, this post hits the spot
Incredible story there. What occurred after? Good luck!
oh all so pretty dear! great post! i think i am loving the maxi Zimmerman the most! i still haven’t found a maxi to reach the floor on me! damn boeheimath!thanks for your comment dearest!!!loving LM xxxx
That’s a mold-breaker. Great thinking!
Now that’s subtle! Great to hear from you.
Háát az se lehetett rossz! ;)@t3v, az okostojas: Jól néz ki és hideg, jaaaaj! :)) Szerintem nem sok a tészta, mivel vékony és a krém is elég sok rajta, igazából csak éppen megtartja ami benne van.
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