Harare Councilors: “Give Us iPads By The 31st Of October”

Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up… The Harare City Councilors have given an ultimatum to the town clerk Hosiah Chisango. What do the City councillors want? They want iPads. When do they want them? Well, it seems like NOW is the answer to that question as 31 October is the deadline they’ve set.

Minutes from a recent council meeting revealed the ridiculous demands and apparently, the iPads are necessary because councillors want to avoid consumption of paper. Secondly, having iPads will also mean that the councillors are equipped with the latest information technology gadgets. I understand why they would want them and I’m all for them having iPads but I also smell some serious entitlement. According to the NewsDay, part of the minutes read:

It is resolved that the town clerk be tasked to ensure that councillors and relevant officials are provided with I-pads by October 31, 2018.

To make matters worse, it seems this is not the first time iPads have been the at the forefront of the disgruntlement of councillors as its reported that the previous council threatened to boycott council meetings if they didn’t get the iPads they were promised. How absurd is that? Public servants refusing to serve the public over iPads? Surely we have more pressing problems.

Look, I understand that a promise is a credit -as we used to say as kids- but is this enough reason for Councilors to throw their local governance toys out of the pram? I don’t think so.

Why is this a thing?

I mean having Councilors who have iPads would be cool. This is the digital age after all. But you know what would be cooler; having councillors who can afford iPads in the first place. If anything this shouldn’t even be a story but if you needed a reminder of how out-of-touch the people who are supposed to be serving citizens are, here’s another reminder

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