…residents remain at the receiving end
Emmanuel Chitsika
So goes the proverbial saying that when elephants fight it is the grass that suffers: from the election of executive mayors to now ceremonial mayors, it all reflects the kind of powers the leadership at Town Houses commanded at turn of the millennium vis-a-vis the currently obtaining situation.
So much has played out on the roles of authorities running affairs of local councils with the main political parties now using the platform to gain or propel political mileage over rivals, all at the expense of ratepayers, who then get substandard service delivery.
Local authorities, since the old dispensation have seen a number of political battles with the most notable being the battle to control Harare between former Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo versus then MDC executive mayor Engineer Elias Mudzuri, that culminated in the suspension of the latter being replaced by deputy Mayor Sekesayi Makwavarara who all of a sudden paid allegiance to the minister defying party directive.
The sudden about turn by government to replace executive mayors with ceremonial ones has been regarded as concerted effort of trying to wrestle control of power from the opposition by the ruling party. However the battle for control of the institution led to shift of power to the Town Clerks whose allegiance is questionable.
With a ministry that boasts of the minister, deputy, permanent secretary and directors within the ranks of its organogram, one tends to wonder where all these civil servants would be when the elected members fail to adhere to their given mandates and thus sincerity seems to be lacking when one looks or judges on whether or not they have citizens interests at heart considering that the blame game is reining supreme in urban centres where the opposition controls and not the opposite side.
Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers’ Alliance (MURRA) spokesperson Godfrey Mutimba said service delivery and local governance in the country has been too politicized.
“Service delivery in the country has been politicised with the minister of local government being given too much powers to interfere in the processes and businesses of local authorities. The minister has powers to determine what happens at local authorities at the expense of elected representatives who are councillors who of late have been stripped of the powers. The shift from executive to ceremonial mayorship in which the mayor cannot even fire incompetent secretariat is another issue.
“Council management as well was given too much power in the process. The oversight and policy making roles of councillors who just meet once a month has not been effective leading to the deterioration of service delivery. Right now service delivery in most if not all urban councils is in tatters at an alarming level. The council is now run by management who directly report to the minister. For example the devolution funds, the minister directly instructs councils on how the funds should be used whereas in normal cases councillors and residents should sit down and decide on how to spend the funds,” said Mutimba.
He also exonerated councillors from the blame which he described as a political gimmick with not value than being useless and the elected representatives are just figure heads to say the least.
The interference and mediation of the minister has led to deterioration of service delivery and so is the blame game on opposition-led municipalities which turns out to be a useless rhetoric that is high sounding nothing because everyone would realise the councillors have got no power over affairs in councils. The set-up in council management has been systematically positioned in such a way that it is composed of ruling party sympathizers following the Zanu PF hand book.
Combined Harare Residents Association acting chairperson Reuben Akili said the blame game between the ministry and councils emanate from skewed accountability mechanisms.
“What is important is to understand that the current blame game between the ministry and councils emanates from skewed accountability mechanisms for example the key issue like government repairing roads in local authority areas and then on the other hand expect the same local authorities to account for the loads which they would not even have contributed towards like looking for contractors, financing and supervising.
“There should be clear mechanisms in terms of the law to ensure local authorities play their roles and central government plays its role. What we would envisage is that local authorities are the ones that are supposed to be dealing with issues of service provision and at the end of the day the responsible minister should play an oversight role but not interference. For example in Harare the ministry even failed to dismiss errant directors which to some extend has cost council of its revenue as they have to pay people who would be in the process of dismissal,” said Akili.
He also said the composition or structure of the local government board is another cause for concern in local governance.
“If one looks at the structure of the board, he/she would see that it goes against the provisions of the constitution (Section 275) which gives local authorities the right to self-governance. Basically, when we look at the deterioration of service provision in urban areas, both central and local governments are equally to blame because they are all guilty of the same offence as they have contributed to the collapse of the sector.
“Local authorities themselves are not that transparent over the manner in which they use their money and the role of the minister to ensure local authorities perform properly other than just watching. The minister is also expected to perform and make sure things happen in local authorities. Both the minister and councils are failing residents. It is the battle for control of urban authorities is the major undoing and thus all the parties are liable to blame,” he added.
Social commentator Ellaine Manyere said the urban local authorities have been turned into grounds for fighting political wars especially when one looks at how government interferes in the affairs of councils.
“Basically I think urban councils are used as battle grounds for politics especially when one looks at the situation when government slashed to zero the debts urban residents owed council which later on negatively impacted on their operations and the money was never recovered from government.
“Service provision in most urban councils has gone down. It surprises that each time the minister of local government and or resident minister visits a local authority, the resultant comment in the media following such visits is like the MDC –led local authority is not doing enough and thus failing. It seems they are doing their best to ensure the elected councillors fail. When one looks at the kind of road infrastructure being constructed under various programmes, the roads will not take even two months to deteriorate and at the end of the day councillors will shoulder the blame. Thus urban councils are used as the fighting ground unlike the rural which the ruling party controls,” said Manyere.
Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Association (MRRA) programmes director David Mutambirwa accused government through the ministry of local government for employing a command approach towards the running of council affairs which he said is meant to erode gains of democracy.
“I think the command system of governance being employed is going to erode all the gains of democracy, social cohesion and multiparty governance which had been cultivated over the years. This is clearly centralisation of power which is against democracy and good governance.
“It is also in contradiction with the constitution which provides for devolution of power. It takes away power from people thereby leaving them helpless. It is a recipe for the lack of peace and sustainable development,” said Mutambirwa.
The notion of devolution of power once again comes under scrutiny to some larger extent and one doubt the sincerity of government to the principle of decentralising power to lower ties of government.
Urban councils have thus been taken as politicking and inter political war zone where each party would flex muscles to show who controls power over who and this control of the corridors of power has resulted in detriment as far as service delivery is concerned.
