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New Constitution-making process - Index of articles
The
popular quest for devolution in Zimbabwe – Briefing Paper
No. 114
Eldred V. Masunungure and Stephen Ndoma, Afrobarometer
March 28, 2013
http://afrobarometer.org/files/documents/briefing_papers/afrobriefno114.pdf
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Two
views of devolution
Since the installation
of the Parliamentary Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) in
2009, the word ‘devolution’ has been one of the buzz
words in the country. It is a contentious, emotive and divisive
issue with strong regional overtones. It is also a frequently misunderstood
and sometimes deliberately distorted term. Technically, devolution
is a transfer or delegation of power by an upper level of government
(often central level) to lower units of governance, e.g., provincial
and local governments. Devolution does not mean federalism where
each tier has constitutionally protected areas of power. In devolution,
the central authority that grants power can in principle revoke
what it grants and the grantee (the devolved government) remains
constitutionally subordinate to the power giver. COPAC, which spearheaded
public consultations on the new constitution,
came up with 26 “talking points,” one of which promoted
devolution, which was defined as a situation “whereby in a
unitary system, political and administrative power is shared between
a national government and lower spheres of the state, for example,
provinces and local authorities.”
In Zimbabwe,
two major schools of thought on devolution stand in sharp opposition
to each other. One school is advanced by the Zimbabwe African National
Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) and it condemns a devolved system
of government in the country because it would “divide the
country into small pieces and because it will cause disunity among
our people.” This argument is best articulated by the party’s
leader, President Robert Mugabe. To him: “ Those things are
done in big countries, not a small country like ours... Some are
talking about separating Matabeleland region to become a country;
that is impossible we don’t want that” (NewsDay , 14
March, 2012).
The second school
is vocally articulated by the two Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) formations, the MDC -T led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
and the MDC-N of Welshman Ncube. Tsvangirai disagrees with Mugabe:
Devolution does
not mean secession. It does not mean separation. It is not about
tribalism. It is about sharing the national cake equally. Devolution
must now become a reality. We cannot have a situation where some
people feel that the centre is taking everything (quoted in VOA
Studio 7, August 3, 2010)
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