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Thumbs
down to councils' merger
Caiphas Chimhete,
The Standard (Zimbabwe)
March 19, 2006
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=304&siteid=1
THE idea of merging
urban and rural local councils is Zanu PF political project to "adulterate"
the opposition vote in cities with the rural ballot, where the ruling
party commands strongest support, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
has said.
Urban planners said from a management point of view, the merger would
be disastrous to the two bodies.
They argue the merger of the two authorities would put the future of local
government management in the country into disarray since the rural and
urban areas were different in the way they are run and generate revenue,
among other issues.
A local urban planner, Percy Toriro, said the proposed amalgamation faced
challenges of addressing needs and aspirations of both the rural and urban
dwellers.
"It would be difficult to bridge the gap between the aspirations
of the people in the rural areas and those in the urban centres,"
Toriro said.
Last week, the president of the Association Rural District Councils (ARDCs),
Jerry Gotora, said modalities were already underway to merge urban and
rural authorities into one entity.
Pressed to comment how the merger would work, Gotora, said they would
start by merging the laws that govern the two councils.
"We are not merging the two as yet, but the laws and then others
things would follow," Gotora said.
But the Urban Council Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) opposes the idea
of merging urban and rural authorities saying it would hamper development.
First vice-deputy secretary of the UCAZ, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube says amalgamation
of urban and rural councils would be very unfortunate.
"The management of urban areas is very different from that of rural
councils and merging them would be detrimental to progress. The two should
remain separate," said Ndabeni-Ncube adding, "even merging the
laws would is not feasible."
He said those that are calling for the merger were seeking "political
power, which is exactly what we are not seeking".
The opposition MDC says the move amounted to gerrymandering by a ruling
party determined to remain in power. Zanu PF draws its support from Zimbabwe’s
rural areas while the MDC enjoys political clout in the country’s urban
centres.
MDC pro-Senate spokesperson, Paul Themba-Nyathi, said the unification
of the two authorities would make it "easier and convenient"
for the Zanu PF government to tamper with constituency boundaries towards
the next polls.
But Themba-Nyathi was quick to point out: "Zimbabwe is one, whether
in rural or urban areas people are fed up with Zanu PF’s misrule. This
strategy will backfire because our urban influence is spreading into the
rural areas."
The MDC spokesperson said instead of tampering with constituencies, the
government should address issues of good governance, delivery of service
and allowing democracy to prevail to win back people’s confidence.
MDC anti-Senate faction national chairperson, Isaac Matongo, also blasted
the idea of amalgamating rural and urban constituencies saying Zimbabweans
had suffered enough under President Robert Mugabe that even trying to
rig polls would not save Zanu PF’s demise in any future election.
"It’s a myopic plan that would not work because Zimbabweans are suffering
and given a second chance, the first thing they would do is voting Zanu
PF out of power," Matongo said.
Since 2000, the MDC has accused the ruling party of tampering with constituency
boundaries, especially towards major elections.
During last year’s March parliamentary elections, the opposition accused
the ruling party of enlarging Harare South constituency to encompass war
veterans, who invaded farms just outside the capital city.
The MDC attributed the loss of the seat to Zanu PF to the last minute
changes to the constituency boundaries.
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