HARARE - The City of Harare has many problems. On Tuesday its mayor proposed a solution from above.
Jacob Mafume said the city should buy a helicopter. “The city should acquire a helicopter to help fight fires in high-rise buildings,” he said in a video shared by NewZimbabwe.com, as reported by iHarare. In the same remarks, according to iHarare, he added that the aircraft could also ferry the mayor to emergency scenes, and laughed. It was not clear from the clip whether that part was a joke.
Bulawayo24, carrying a ZiFM Stereo report, said Mafume told a full council meeting that the local authority was exploring a purchase to strengthen its firefighting and disaster response. The idea gathered momentum, it reported, after the mayor shared a video of himself aboard a helicopter with the caption: “Test drive and your cries have been heard.” Acting Town Clerk Warren Chiwawa and Acting Director of Urban Planning Services Samuel Nyabezi were also seen in the aircraft.
The bill, not yet presented
What is missing is a price. According to iHarare, the clip gave no details on how the helicopter would be funded or maintained, and no estimated cost was disclosed. Bulawayo24 reported that council has yet to say when it will decide, or how much the aircraft would cost.
The case for it is not absurd. Harare has faced growing pressure over its emergency services, Bulawayo24 noted, amid recurring fires and incidents that have exposed weaknesses in its response. A helicopter could reach inaccessible areas and help with aerial firefighting.
The case against was made loudly online. iHarare reported that many residents questioned whether the city should first fix its existing emergency system and basic services. “You can’t even reticulate water, a basic need, here you are bluffing about what people don’t need,” one user, Lawrence Tawanda, wrote.
The view from the ground
The cartoon accompanying this story puts the helicopter on the roof of Town House, labelled “Mayor’s Emergency Response”, while at street level a patient is pushed in a wheelbarrow, a pregnant woman rides a donkey and an ambulance sits idle. It is satire. The question it asks, about what gets bought first, is the one residents asked online.
Hens and hounds
Town House’s rules have puzzled residents before. In November 2024 The Herald reported that the council would begin enforcing its long-neglected dog licensing by-laws. Households on plots under 2,000 square metres, in high and medium density suburbs and in almost all gated complexes, would be limited to two pets. Those on larger plots would be allowed four.
The Herald’s headline spoke of a “One Dog Per Household Rule”, which the article’s own figures did not quite match. An older cartoon from that week has two vendors reading the notices. One suggests that, since the old colonial-era laws are back, perhaps the old rulers should return too; the other says at least they knew how to run the economy. It is a bitter joke, and it is the cartoon’s, not ours.
What comes next
Council has made no formal announcement of a purchase. If it does, the mayor will need to explain the cost, the pilots and the maintenance, and how it fits alongside the city’s other emergency needs.
Until then, Harare’s emergency response stays on the ground, and the mayor’s test drive remains just that.
