Of city fathers and feathers

If the mayor of any city finds it demeaning to use the best form of public transport available in that city to travel to and from the office every day, then they should not be mayor of that city. Across the globe, mayors of major cities use the subway, taxis and buses to get to the office. Why? Well, they are virtually guaranteed to get to work using the same means that ordinary folk use every single day to get to their divers workplaces.
There cannot be a greater manifestation of lack of confidence in a city's transportation system and in the city's very character than when the mayor of a city will not use any form of public transit. Some might say that the spectacle of the mayor of Harare riding in a mini van might not be a very eclectic one, to which I say amen, while pointing out, in the same breath, the circularity of such an argument: as long as the mayor and other city dignitaries, cabinet ministers and senior civil servants do not use public transit because taxpayers and ratepayers provide them with the most expensive super-sized sedans Daimler Benz has ever assembled, the public transportation systems will stay stuck in the mid-twentieth century.
There will be no major investment in improving the road and rail systems that take people to work if neither the city fathers nor their families use them on a regular basis.
Harare needs a mayor who can set an example for the rest of the country's cities to follow in these difficult times. The same applies to those in the so-called inclusive government who wallow in luxury at the expense of the poor.