Harare City Council has deployed various officers to the various districts under the decentralization programme.

List of District Officers, their stations and telephone numbers
 

The division is  based at DHCS Remembrance Drive in Mbare.

Functions of the Division are as follows:

• Provision of leisure and recreation parks.
• Provision of stages for functions for hire.
• Facilities for weddings, birthdays parties and any other parties or outdoor functions.
• Floral decorations for any special and state events.
• Sell of a wide variety of plants like flowers, fruit trees.
• Chalets for visitors or tourists.
• Tree surgery this includes pruning trees and cutting  down dangerous trees.
• Grass cutting.
• Landscaping.
• Greening of the City.
• Provision of burial sites.

Parks Facilities

Facilities for weddings, birthday parties and any other outdoor functions are available at:

• Florence Chisholm Park, Avondale.
• Christmas Gardens in Harare Gardens.
• Cleveland Dam.

Other recreational Parks in Harare are located in the following areas:
Budiriro, Kuwadzana, Glen Norah, Highfields, Mabvuku, Marlborough, Mabelreign, Balantyne Park, Logan Park and Waterfalls.

Contact Persons

Harare Gardens Offices: For Bookings you can contact Mrs Mutsvangwa on 263-4-764073.

Hillside Nursery: For Floral decorations and plants sales you can visit the Hillside Nursery off Glenara Road/Helm Road, Hillside, Harare or phone Mr Chigumbu on 263-4-2932734.

Greening of the City: contact Mr Marima  on 263-4-764 073

Grass Cutting: Contact Mr Mudhutswa on 263-4-762 795

Tree surgery: Contact Mr Doka on 263-4-764 073

Cemeteries Section

Commitments

• The cemeteries section is committed to the following;
• Provision of affordable, adequate and suitable burial space.
• Provisions of cremation services as an attractive alternative to burial.
• Develop and maintain cemeteries and crematoria to highest acceptable horticulture standards. 

Services Offered

• Burial Services (including Pauper and indigent)
• Cremation services
• Grave maintenance
• Kerbing and chips
• Disposal of ashes
• Maintenance of archival records (– burial and cremation records)
• Exhumations 

Pauper

A pauper is defined by law as a person who has died as an unknown person within the geographic boundaries of the City of Harare or any local authority and shall be buried at the discretion of Harare City Council with the assistance of the national social service.

An Indigent

An indigent person is defined as a destitute person who has died in indigent circumstances within the geographic boundaries of the City of Harare were no relatives, other person, NGO or Welfare Organization can be found to pay for the burial or cremation cost of the deceased  person. 

• The onus of proof of being indigent rest with the applicant’s declaration of indigent confirmed by a social worker of Council or Police Officer.
• The burial or cremation of an indigent person is the same as that of a pauper unless indigent relief is applied.

In terms of the law, a person who has died in a hospital or other institution shall be the responsibility of that hospital or institution.

General Regulations And By-Laws

• The Council cannot be held liable for any lose or damage to any object or grave artifacts.
• No memorial works shall be carried out on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Memorial work to be erected 2 years after burial.
• The official in charge or any member of his or her staff may remove natural or artificial flowers and any receptacle placed on a grave, when they become withered, faded or damaged.
• No person shall at the time of the Council levelling/grassing /weeds slashing or any section, hinder the official in-charge in the execution of his duties.
• Booking or burial shall be done at the cemetery of choice 24 hours prior to burials.
• No person shall without the authority of the official in charge;

1. Garden on grave;
2. Erect, place or leave upon a grave any object or decoration, except during the first 30 days following burials.

Appeal Procedure

• All queries by clients will be referred to the Curator of Cemeteries;
• However if the Curator of Cemeteries fails to adequately handle the query, such query will be referred to the Operations Manager or to the General Manager or the Director of Amenities in the order given.

Cemeteries

The City has got nine cemeteries of which four are still active and the other five are closed.

Active Cemeteries

• Warren Hills Cemetery
• Mabvuku
• Granville A
• Granville B
• Warren Hills 

Closed cemeteries

• Greendale
• Pioneer
• Highfields
• Mbare
• Dzivarasekwa. 

Classification of Cemeteries

Cemeteries are classified into three classes which are:

Class A+   

• Pioneer Cemetery
• Greendale cemetery
• Pioneer Cemetery
• Warren Hills

These cemeteries are class A+ because of the following attributes:

• Closer to the city centre;
• Heavy textured soils;
• High horticultural maintenance standards;
• Strictly ledger type of tombstones.

Class A  

• Granville A

These cemeteries are class A because of the following attributes:

• Moderate horticultural maintenance standards;
• Has concrete berms bearing permanent grave numbers and act as head stones;
• Strictly ledger type of tombstones.

Class B   

• Mabvuku
• Highfield
• Granville B
• Mbare
• Dzivarasekwa 

These cemeteries are class B because of the following attributes:

• Low maintenance standards;
• Tombstones mainly kerbing and chips;
• Low charges. 

Cremation

The cremation services are offered at:

• Warren Hills cremation.
• Hindu Cremation - Pioneer cremation.

Cemetery Price List  

Class B - Granville B, Mabvuku And Highfield Cemetery
 

   Class A - Granville A Cemetery

Class A+ - Warren Hills, Greendale And Pioneer Cemetery
 

Hindu  Cremations

Grave Reservations

Other Service Charges

Hours of Business

All cemeteries are open to members of the public during the following days and business hours:

The section is mainly responsible for ensuring the well functioning of the Department as an entity by managing, supervising and organizing the Department’s routine activities.

The following key result areas fall under the section’s purview:

• Housekeeping role – ensuring a safe and clean environment; provision of work place needs; maintenance of buildings (caretaker services), equipment and machinery.
• Provision of secretarial services – including serving as personal assistants to the management team; personnel for reception area and switchboard office; typing pool and coordination of the Department’s meetings by management of Boardroom bookings.
• Transport management i.e. use, distribution and upkeep of vehicles.
• Registry Office management – maintenance and processing of all documents/records such as mail and reports; provision of messenger services; photocopying and duplicating services.

The Section is primarily responsible for the administration of all Council Primary Schools, Early Childhood Education and Care Centres, Council Libraries and Vocational Training Centres in Greater Harare. The Division endeavours to provide education that meets or surpasses the expectations of relevant government Ministries and other stakeholders.

Early Childhood Education and Care Centres (Pre-schools)

City of Harare is currently running 37 Pre-Schools in Harare’s High Density areas.  These Early Childhood Development Centres offer early childhood education to communities that cannot afford higher fees that are charged by private Pre-schools. The pre-schools are child friendly as they have spacious classrooms and play centres equipped with various items for play.

Council Pre-schools are divided into two categories, that is, Half and Full Day Centres. In fact fifteen Centres are Full Day Centres while the rest are Half Day. It is the Division’s great interest to ensure that recommended standards are maintained despite the fact that resources are scarce.

Primary Schools

Education Division is currently running 32 Council Schools that are located in high density suburbs. The City employs the Bursar, Senior Clerical Officer and Caretaker. These are responsible for the day to day administration of the school under the supervision of the School Head. The Division has been running these institutions successfully and also producing pleasing results. School Development Committees also assist Council in the administration of Council Primary in many ways including the repair of school buildings, maintenance of school grounds, collection of levies and fees at the school and general administration of the school.

It is important to note that the City has not been building schools in all high density suburbs owing to critical shortage of funds.  The World Bank pulled out in 2002 and since then no school has been built.  There is need for more primary schools in Greater Harare because the number of children who enroll at Council Pre-Schools, Private Creches and other institutions is growing exponentially.  Demand for primary schools continues to grow every year.

Vocational Training Centres (VTC)

The Division administers one VTC in Mbare and co-administers the VTC in Budiriro together with Social Service Division which also runs its youth training programmes at the same centre. The center in Mbare offered technical courses which include carpentry, building, welding, leather technology, upholstery and bookbinding. However, for the past three years, these courses were no longer being conducted at Budiriro VTC due to shortage of skilled instructors as most of them had sought employment elsewhere during the times of economic downturn, that is, before the government of national unity. On the other hand Social Services Division has not been fully utilizing the Centre in Budiriro due to failure to enroll applicants interested in the interior décor and pottery courses offered.

Challenges at the Vocational Training Centre in Mbare

Most of the equipment is obsolete thus Council needs to procure new machinery. Council should encourage the corporate World to chip in and assist prospective students at Vocational Training Centres. The Centre was established in 1963 and  now needs to be revamped and renovated.

Libraries

City of Harare is currently running nine libraries in most of the high density areas.  Students from Primary Schools, Private Colleges and Secondary Schools are the main beneficiaries. These Libraries maintain good rapport with communities and promote a very good reading culture for the young generation.

Challenges

The City Libraries are now dilapidated and most of them are in sorry state – notably, Waterfalls, Highfield and Glen View Libraries. There is an urgent need to renovate and repair these libraries otherwise their status will be reduced to empty shells in the near future. Most of the library roofs are leaking thereby exposing precious books to moist conditions. Kuwadzana Library has not been completed yet. Construction and repair of libraries need serious consideration.

Libraries should also move with time. Lack of computerization in Council Libraries negates the spirit of technological advancement. 

The Division is responsible for the management of housing matters; maintenance of the Housing Waiting List; allocation of rented accommodation and residential stands and planning of new housing projects. 
 

Housing Waiting List

At the end of year 2016, the Housing Waiting list had 212 734 applicants. The demand for Housing continued to grow during the Year under review as 34 834 new applicants registered on the Housing Waiting List, an increase of 147 % from the previous year. 29 % of the applicants who were on the housing waiting list in 2015 failed to renew their waiting list details. Therefore, at the end of the year 2016, the number of active applicants on the Housing Waiting List amounted to 151 041 applicants.
 

Public Private Partnerships

Management has engaged and entered into Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to service stands, build cluster houses and flats in the following areas:

URBAN RENEWAL           

Mbare

Project Description

Council seeks to upgrade Mbare by the demolition of dilapidated housing infrastructure and replace it with 10 000 new and modern housing units as well as provision of recreational facilities. The proposed development would include flat development on open spaces, refurbishment of existing hostels to family units and upgrading of infrastructure; water and sewer reticulation and roads network.

The Division is headed by Mrs E. Muchena who is charged with the responsibility to provide services that promote the welfare of the marginalised residents of the City of Harare through socio-economic empowerment, poverty alleviation programmes and the caring of the physical and psychological well being of the residents through cultural, sporting and recreational activities at the various community centres in the city.

The Division also spearheads implementation of programmes designed to uplift the welfare of targeted groups in the community. Programmes include inter alia those ear marked to fight against Sexual and Gender Violence, and all other forms of violence, the HIV/AIDS scourge, poverty alleviation and many others.

Services are normally rendered in the areas of women, youth, arts and cultural development, sport and recreation, aquatic (swimming) services and general community development. The successful delivery of the services continued to depend on the assistance from private companies, individual community members  and non governmental organisations (NGOs). Council has not been able to avail funds to drive community programmes for the past decade.

Women Development

Women's programmes embarked upon are mostly in pursuit of the goal of empowering them socially and economically. Programmes usually take the form of centralised skills training, networking with private organisations for funding and creating an enabling environment for setting up income generating projects in Greater Harare. Women clubs continue to be a major activity at various community centres. The bulk of the clubs are involved in baking, savings, dressmaking, batik, interior decor, grocery buying and sharing.

Chinembiri Women's Training Centre

The training centre offers year long courses in cutting and design and catering. The centre also offers dressmaking and baking courses. The centre was privileged to receive an array of very useful sewing equipment donated to the city by Oxfam and Zimpro as the Joint Initiatives (JI).

General Women's Development Activities

The division continued to mobilise women groups for various developmental activities at community centre level. An array of organisations came on board to augment the City's efforts to empower the marginalised women and the girl child so that they can become self reliant in life.

Private Sector Involvement In Women's Programmes

It has become very common for some commercial companies in partnership with the City to provide educational and developmental services to women's groups  at council community centres. There is an increase in companies coming on board as partners to enhance women's club activities.

In an effort to make community centres independent, Reckitt/Benkiser and Brand Interface in 2011 donated 13 four plate stoves and 2 gas stoves for use by women clubs at community centres. Reckitt/Benkiser and Brand Interface represents 10 companies namely Irvines Chickens, Colcom, Danone, National Foods, Dariboard, Pharmanova, Tanganda Tea, Netrad, Unilever and C.A.B.S. The donation will go a long way in capacitating women programmes given the inability of council to buy the same over the years. Reckitt/Benkiser also undertook a major refurbishment exercise of the Mai Musodzi Hall in Mbare as a community service to the City of Harare, aimed at promoting women activities. The Hall was refurbished in its totality.

Youth Development

The major objectives of the City’s  youth development programmes are to keep youth occupied and away from mischief and other anti social behaviours.  The youth programmes also aims at empowering the youth to be economically self sufficient.  This is achieved through enabling the youth to embark on some income generating activities.  The most common of these is visual and performing arts which dominates the youth sphere.

Budiriro Youth Centre Training Programme

The center offer training for cutting and designing, interior décor and pottery. Enrolment at the centre has remained very low over the years due to lack of publicity and shortage of training equipment.

Sports and Recreation Section

Programmes continue to be affected by the shortage of sporting equipment such as balls and uniforms owing to the unavailability of a Council budget to fund the same.

Swimming Pools

City of Harare has a total of 13 swimming pools in different locations around the city which are used for different aquatic events by various organizations which include schools, pre-schools, the army, the police, clubs and individuals. All the 13 swimming pools as listed below are in good working order, unavailablity of water in some areas may cause temporary closure of the pools.

• Les Brown Pool
• Mt Pleasant Pool
• George Hartley Pool
• Highlands Pool
• Cranbourne Pool
• Mabelreign Pool
• Mc Donald Park Pool
• Greendale Pool
• Mufakose Pool
• Hatfield Pool
• Highfields Pool
• Waterfalls Pool
• Arcadia Pool

The Division is headed by the Head Districts Administration Mr F Machipisa. The Division ensures that service delivery is brought close to the residents and ratepayers of the City. It fulfils this mandate through the City’s District Offices scattered throughout Greater Harare. These District offices are supervised from Head Office (DHSD) Remembrance Drive in Mbare by the Head- Districts Administration who is also responsible for managing the Informal sector, which comprises of Home Industries, guarded car parks and markets.

The Division manages the operations of twenty six High and Low Density Districts in Greater Harare and nine Sub-Offices. The Division established two new District Offices in Caledonia (Harare East) and Hopley (Harare South). The former is already operational and the latter will start operating soon.

The Division successfully refurbished Mbare Farmer’s Market by erecting a new brick wall around the market, new gates and provided wooden pallets during the last quarter of 2016. New wooden pallets were also provided at Highfield’s Lusaka Farmers market. The refurbishment of the above has helped to increase revenue inflows by doing away with illegal trading.
 

DECENTRALISED SERVICE DELIVERY

Council passed a resolution to decentralize service delivery as a strategy towards achieving 75% customer satisfaction by 2020. This is part of the journey towards a World Class City status by 2025

Underlying Principles in the Success of Decentralisation

• A Shared Vision
• Provision of resources
• Effective Leadership
• Commitment at all levels
• Effective communication
• A customer centric culture
• Regular monitoring and evaluation
   

BENEFITS OF DECENTRALISATION

• Operational efficiency
• Quick turnaround and decision making
• Greater accountability and efficiency
• Transforms Council into a more responsive organisation
• Improved accessibility for ratepayers
• Improved ratepayers compliance
• Improved revenue inflows
• Satisfied customers

SERVICE DELIVERY STRUCTURE - implementation matrix

The city has been divided into eight operational zones under a Chief Area Admin Officer (CAAO). The Office of the Chief Area Administration is a One-Stop-Shop for service delivery at Zone Level reporting to the Head District Administration. Reporting to the Chief Area Administration Officer is done functionally, as this person is key in resource allocation and distribution across all decentralised service delivery functions within the zone. All decentralised functions across departments shall be under the control of the Chief Area Administration Officer of the zone who will further report to various departments of Council on issues to do with service delivery.