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Democratic deficits: Zimbabwe's lived reality in social service delivery and its impact on popular political processes
Mfundo Mlilo
June 06, 2012

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It is a paradox that while Africa has experienced probably the greatest attack and seen substantive violation of socio-economic and cultural rights, the African Charter on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) recognises these rights on the same footing as civic and political rights. The African Charter is probably one of the only charters that not only awards rights to individuals and peoples, but also includes duties incumbent upon them¹. The reality however, is that over the last 30 years since the adoption of the ACHPR and the 25 years that Zimbabwe has been a signatory to the charter unspeakable human rights violations have occurred. This is particularly so because our local constitutions have mischievously not recognised the socio-economic and cultural rights protected in the ACHPR and hence the compliance on recommendations from the African Union (AU) by state parties has been poor. This flagrant violation of rights has seen a collapse in the delivery of social services² in most local authorities countrywide leading in some cases to loss of life. This collapse of social services is a function of a blocked democracy and exclusionary policies. The collapse in social services and the new demands for social and economic justice offers a new frontier for mobilisation of local communities and individuals to participate in popular political process. This can be achieved if a nexus is established between political processes (of constitution making and elections) and Zimbabwe's lived reality.

Democratic deficits in the social service delivery system

There are fundamental democratic deficits³ and internal systemic obstacles that impede people's access to social services and the achievement of the Millennium Development goals (MDGs). In Zimbabwe, these democratic deficits arise primarily out of a crisis of governance and colonial legislation governing institutions charged with delivering social services. 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 government⁴.

The juridical framework of local governance is spelt out in various pieces of legislation including the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15), the Rural District Councils Act (Chapter 29:13), and the Provincial Councils and Administration Act. The fact that these Acts are not recognized under the current constitutional framework has allowed the executive arm of central government to constantly interfere with the running of local authorities. It must be noted that these acts are administered by the Minister of Local Government Rural and Urban Development who wields a substantial supervisory role over all local government structures. The Minister is given and excises excessive powers in terms of both the Urban Councils and Rural district Councils Act. As a result governance or decision-making remains centralized and inaccessible to most citizens. Local community development structures such as residents and ratepayers associations are not legally recognized as part of the local government structures. This restricts democratic space for local communities to make both the local and national authorities accountable and transparent⁵.

Recently, four City of Harare Councillors⁶ were suspended from the Council on frivolous charges which has created a gap in the wards that they represent. In 2004, Minister Chombo fired Harare Mayor Engineer Elias Mudzuri leading to the resignation of all councillors. This led to the illegal appointment of the commission to run the affairs of the local authority. The Commission was subsequently declared illegal over 5 times by the High Court despite the fact that the Zimbabwe Election Commission refused to call for elections for the Mayor and Council. The same "unholy hand" was seen interfering and firing councillors in Mutare, Chitungwiza and Chegutu in 2006. Shumba (2009) notes that, "although, it has been observed that most of the times these councils were caught on the wrong side of the law, it has remained a mystery why so many of the councils have been affected by the same trap, something which hints on the possible fault of the institutional arrangements and instruments of local government"⁷.

What has been particularly worrying about all these dismissals and the undue interference has been the subsequent collapse of the social service delivery system. There is evidence to suggest that the takeover of City of Harare affairs by the Commission led By Sekesayi Makwavarara and the subsequent cabinet directive to transfer the management of water and sewer services to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) led to Cholera outbreaks in Harare, Chitungwiza and Mutare. In Harare at least 4000 people lost their lives as a result of the cholera outbreaks. In 2008 the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) estimated that there were about 1900 new dumping sites in high density suburbs due to uncollected refuse⁸. It is clear therefore that the democratic deficits that exist in the social service delivery system have led to undue suffering by the general citizenry in Zimbabwe.

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