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Local
Government: Policy Review
Zimbabwe Institute
June, 2005
http://www.zimbabweinstitute.org/Publications/pub-categories.asp?PubCatID=24
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The main purpose
of the report is to present a review of local government systems,
policies, practices, and institutional relationships. The review sought
to establish the current local government structures and policies
and interrogate their appropriateness to meet current and future challenges.
The project also sought to establish the extent of citizen participation
in policy formulation and implementation. It recommends an alternative
local government system for Zimbabwe.
The
main objective of the policy review project is to contribute towards
the process of creating a new local government system that is efficient,
effective and responsive to needs and demands of the local citizenry.
The guiding philosophy is that the local people can develop best
when they are put in charge of their destiny. Local people should
determine the nature and implementation of public policy and generally
be involved in decision making over matters that affect their lives.
The
Current Legal and Operational Framework
Local government
refers to the provision and maintenance of public services and infrastructure
at local levels utilising funds generated from the local community,
in addition to grants and loans from central Government, and other
sources. In essence, local government refers to the establishment
of participatory and democratically elected structures that can identify
with the needs of the people at grassroots level and ensure the translation
of those needs into the actual programmes and projects and maintenance
of essential services. Where a system of local government is efficient
and effective, transparency and accountability are central to the
decision-making process and the system is able to provide and maintain
quality service and infrastructure.
The local government
system in Zimbabwe is a legislative rather than a constitutional creature.
In practical terms, what this means is that Local Government is not
an independent sphere of government, but an appendage of central government
which determines the birth, development and death of this important
sphere of governance. The activities of local government units are
co-ordinated by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and
National Housing (MLGPW&NH). The ten provinces into which the
country is divided are administrative rather than political provinces
and do not have elective structures. As such, no really significant
powers have been devolved upon Provincial Councils and Provincial
Committees.
The
juridical framework for local government is set out in several pieces
of legislation. The principal Acts governing local authorities in
Zimbabwe, the Urban Councils Act and the Rural District Councils
Act set local authorities as separate and fairly autonomous legal
corporate institutions. The main Acts for local governance purposes
are the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15), Urban Councils Amendment
Act (Chapter 29:16), Rural District Councils Act (Chapter 29:13),
Chiefs and Headmen Act (Chapter 29:01), Communal Land Act (Chapter
20:04), the Provincial Councils and Administration Act, the Customary
Law and Local Courts Act (No. 2) of 1990 and the Traditional Leadership
Act of 1998. In addition, there are a number of statutory instruments
defining the legal parameters of local government.
Zimbabwe
has two main types of local authorities, the Rural District Councils
in rural areas, and the Urban Councils in the urban areas. The institutional
framework for local government in the country can be better understood
in terms of three universes; the Centre, the Urban universe and
the Rural universe, with the latter two orbiting around the centre.
The
Scenario at the Centre
At the centre of
the local government policy is the Ministry of Local Government, Public
Works and National Housing (MLGPW &NH) which is the lead agency.
The Ministry provides the legislative and policy framework within
which local government units operate. Functionally, the Ministry is
supposed to provide an enabling or facilitative within which local
government operates. In practice, however, the ministry of Local Government
has increasingly played a controlling and directive role especially
since the emergence of a formidable opposition (MDC) with a significant
control over Local Government authorities in the urban areas. It was
the Ministry’s excessive interference, especially in Harare City Council,
which finally led to the resignation of MDC councillors in August
2004.
The
Ministry of Local Government administers all the Acts and Statutory
Instruments promulgated in the local government area. The Minister
retains a substantial supervisory role over all local government
units (LGUs) and enjoys the ultimate power of intervention and suspension
of any local council. In some sense, the LGUs in Zimbabwe operate
at the behest and suffering of the Minister. In fact, the main legal
instruments of local government invest the President and the Minister
of Local Government with the power to suspend or act in place of
a local authority and the power to nullify some decisions of local
authorities. For instance, in the RDC Act alone, there are more
than 250 instances where the Minister can intervene in the day to
day running of Rural District Councils. There is simply too much
of the "Minister shall" concept in Zimbabwean local government
and this has entrenched excessive central executive intervention.
As Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing,
Ignatius Chombo has explained in the past: "local councils
enjoyed delegated authority and thus should follow government, and
by extension, ZANU PF policies." (The Daily Mirror,
30.08.04.)
The
overbearing role of the ministry in local governance is particularly
evident when it comes to the implementation of the decentralisation
programme, a pet project of the Government since independence. According
to the Thirteen Principles to Guide the Decentralisation Process
adopted by Cabinet in 1996, the transfer of powers and functions
by line ministries to RDCs is done by the line ministry concerned
but the Ministry of Local Government co-ordinates and facilitates
the effort.
Another
critical ministry in the day-to-day functions of local government
is the Ministry of Finance, especially in the area of development
planning and public finance for capital projects. For instance,
Section 290 of the Urban Councils Act provides that urban councils
may, with the consent of the minister responsible for local government
and the minister responsible for finance, raise the necessary funds
by issuing stock, bonds, debentures or bills, or from any other
source not mentioned in the Urban Councils Act.
Another
critically pivotal institution in local governance is the Presidency.
Throughout the various pieces of local government legislation, the
President is empowered to intervene in a variety of cases, the ultimate
being the dissolution of a council and dismissal of councillors
and Executive Mayors. Under the RDC Act, for instance, the President
is empowered to declare, name, alter or abolish a district.
The
fourth important national institution is the Local Government Board
(LGB) established under the Urban Councils Act. This is six-member
Board appointed by the central government to oversee the operations
of local authorities but its visibility and authority is felt mainly
in the appointment or dismissal of senior council employees. It
provides guidance on the organisation, administration and personnel
issues in local government and the minister may direct the LGB to
institute investigations on any matter relating to local government
administration. For avoidance of confusion, it must be clarified
that local government staff are recruited by local authorities
themselves and have the power to discipline and dismiss staff but
the LGB must approve the appointments and dismissals of senior
staff in urban authorities. For senior staff in the RDCs,
the Ministry plays this role. To ensure some sense of fairness in
the composition of the LGB, it has two public service commissioners
(from the Public Service Commission – central staff agency); a representative
from the Association of Rural District Council (ARDC); two representatives
from councils; and one representative from the workers.
Also
involved in staffing matters at the national level is the Public
Service Commission. According to the 13th Principle to
guide the decentralisation process, "the Public Service Commission
will manage the transfer of personnel from central government to
rural district councils where this happens as part of decentralisation."
In practice, the PSC has largely been invisible in the operations
of local authorities and to this extent; its role has remained largely
theoretical.
Another
important national institution at the operational level is the District
Development Fund (DDF). This is not strictly speaking a part of
local government, but it is a institution created by central government
to assist in the provision of infrastructure and is one of the main
sources of public finance for the development of rural areas, especially
the communal lands. Though the agency scored some resounding successes
in the early 1980s, it has since suffered from goal displacement
and has become a vehicle for massive mismanagement of resources
and corruption by both the local and national political elite. At
one time the Association of Rural District Councils (ARDC) called
for the DDF to be put under the direct supervision of local authorities
and for a Commission of Inquiry to be set up to investigate its
nefarious activities. At the biennial conference of ARDC held in
August 2004, DDF came under heavy criticism for not consulting local
authorities, who are the planning authorities, on its activities,
resulting in the duplication of roles. (The Herald 24 August
2004).
Equally
important, though not always visible, is the Council of Chiefs consisting
of representatives of various communal lands. The Council of Chiefs
is provided for in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and under the Traditional
Leaders Act. Members of the Council of Chiefs are chosen by a Provincial
Assembly of Chiefs and the Council in turn elects ten of its members
to sit in the Zimbabwe Parliament as non-constituency MPs.
Other
institutions provided for in the Rural District Council and Urban
Council Acts are the two associations representing these areas:
the Association of Rural District Councils (ARDC) and Urban Council
Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ). They have been very actively involved
in research, training and advocacy with a view to strengthening
local governance. They, for instance, made useful submissions about
reforming the local government sector during the Presidential Constitutional
Commission with both in strong favour of "constitutionalising"
local government in Zimbabwe. UCAZ has established a committee that
meets reportedly regularly with the Minister for Local Government
to discuss matters of mutual concern. Unlike UCAZ, the ARDC is said
to meet with the ministry on an ad hoc basis.
Yet
another important national structure is the Portfolio Committee
on Local Government, Public Works and National Housing. The local
government portfolio committee exercises surveillance over the entire
local government domain. It, like other committees, holds public
discussions on pertinent issues that have arisen or are of public
concern and report their findings and recommendations to the whole
House.
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