Salvaging The City of Kings

Bulawayo Blues – Salvaging The City of Kings – By Dumisani O Nkomo

Bulawayo has for decades been a leader in local governance and service delivery excellence. This reputation has been gradually eroded over the past 10 or so years and in particular the past three years   .Significantly the death of at least 13 residents due to typhoid has severely compromised the stature and status of the City of Kings Once known for cleanliness  and order the city has catastrophically and spectacularly descended into the  quagmire of poor service delivery  .The water crisis which appears to be at the epicentre of the current crisis in “Blues ‘is largely a creation of central government which is statutorily required to provide bulk water for cities and towns .I would like to argue that the crisis Bulawayo faces is a crisis of leadership and governance which requires urgent , decisive and proactive action .Solutions need to soberly  through  reaction to the service delivery quagmire and leadership conundrum facing the city .The crisis in Bulawayo is a manifestation of a deeper leadership crisis at local and national level .The multiplicity of challenges facing the city of Bulawayo require the right leadership mix in craft competencies in order to navigate the city towards sustainable growth , development and sound service delivery .

Context

In order to effectively deal with the Bulawayo leadership and service delivery conundrum it is essential to have an appreciation of contextual issues at macro and micro level . This understanding not only explains failures of the current council due to extrinsic or exogenic factors but also the type of leadership which is required to deal with the complex issues affecting the city .

It is generally accepted that the economic landscape and political architecture of Zimbabwe has destroyed local government capabilities .The state of the economy has made it prohibitively difficult for local authorities to deliver their core mandates of service delivery as well as sound local governance epitomized by responsive local government structures and processes .This is not rocket science and we expect those who contested to be councillors to be fully aware of this .It is a fact and an uncontested  one that government centralized provision of bulk water through the Zimbabwe National Water Authority ZINWA  has only managed to build one dam i.e Mtshabezi Dam in the early 90”’s to mitigate the cities growing water problems .It is also  a fact that the state of the economy has had crippling and debilitating effects on quality of and access to service delivery .

Local authorities are also hamstrung by a disabling legislative framework which grants sweeping powers to the Minister of Local Government and central government .

 Local government elections have become short cuts for many opportunists and political scavengers to hungrily descend on municipalities in search for tenders , stands and freebies . The  professional , competent servant and service culture of the city has been eroded in the process  .In this I lay responsibility not just on the elected politicians but also on the  executive arm or management arm  of the city which is seized with operational issues  . The city of Bulawayo  needs sound , visionary leadership anchored on integrity from the councillors and an equally dynamic , craft competent management free from avarice , caprice and the trappings of arrogance .I would like to propose a number of ideas in order to improve the state of the city and broadly local governance and service delivery in the city .It and.

In order to transition to stability and thereafter a sustainable path of development the city needs  councillors and technocrats who understand the intricacies of local governance its relationship with  complex economic and political ecosystems 

 

1.Vison 2050 For The City

The City of Bulawayo inclusive of various stakeholders needs to develop a 30-year visionary framework from the city. This of course may be contained in current masterplans but I am referring to a more inclusive process of drawing up a vision of the Bulawayo we want in 30 years’ time in terms of the Local Economic Development [ L.E.D]  , town planning , renewable energy , water and sewer reticulation , recreation /park spaces , technology and so on . This vision of the Bulawayo we want must then inspire us to take the necessary policy and planning steps in five-year strategic planning cycles to achieve this broader vision. This vision will also inform the kind of leaders that are needed in order to achieve the 2050 Bulawayo vision. We will thus be driven not by political parties but by vision and the desire to achieve vision through deployment of competent leadership to govern and manage the city.

Bulawayo 2050 should make Bulawayo one of the fastest growing cities in Sub Saharan Africa within that 30 year period. For that to happen craft competence is required at the technocratic strata of the municipality in order to effect planning and implementation and craft literate councillors to provide vision, direction and oversight.

2.Meritocratic Leadership

Mob rule where the biggest thugs in political parties emerge victorious in primary elections at the expense of quality candidates must be replaced by a meritocratic system which provides for minimum thresholds for one to be a councillor .This referrers not to academic qualifications but rather to whether one has a proven track record in leadership , management or community service at any level .Property ownership could be another qualification but it must not be the sole determinant because many young Zimbabweans with potential have lost their ability to acquire property due to the collapse of the economy  . It is however still an important consideration. All those intending to contest must declare their assets in order to curb issues of conflict of interest and gravitation towards kleptomania. This however assumes that the electorate would be mature and be able to elect quality councillors. The assumption itself is predicated on an informed and active citizenry and this in turn assumes that there are institutions or processes which produce such a citizen.

The electorate has to be educated and informed about the importance of local governance   thus the imperative of having quality councillors. Civil society and the media have a key role in this respect and this civic education must not happen in 2023 when political temperatures are at their highest and reason is at its lowest. Citizens must be educated about the role of councillors , the role of local authorities and indeed how they[ we ] as residents can engage with municipalities as active citizens .The media also has a key role in ensuring that it becomes a marketplace of ideas so that we do not have “people accidentally chosen from the ranks of the unemployed “presiding over key governance and financial stewardship issues .The governance and wellbeing of the city should be so important that those who are best able to advance and defend the interests of the city are elected . Such people are there in the corporate sector, creatives, academia , labour , civil society ,community leadership structures , churches and in the swathe of professions the city has at its disposal .

Periodic Review of Performance of Public Officials

A system of public periodic reviews of key officials in council management such as Town Clerks , Chamber secretaries and heads of department must be put in place and the process must be open to public scrutiny .This is because local authorities largely depend on the technical competence of its management / technical arm and when this arm is compromised the legislative or political arm is weakened .

Urban and rural councils legislation must have a recall clause so that non performing councillors can be recalled not by their political parties but by residents. This will no doubt keep councillors on their toes  .

The Bulawayo City Council specifically has to revisit and re-engineer its previous capacity of harnessing revenue from alternative financial streams. In the eighties the council mobilized significant resources for the construction of schools and clinics from the proceeds of beer sales. This may not be tenable under the current economic regime but efforts must be made to maximize revenue harnessing from alternative streams such as council properties, Private Public Partnerships and other local economic development initiatives.

The Bulawayo City Council must develop a robust Local Economic Development Plan which elicits the economic potential of the city based on its competitive advantages namely

1.Location – it is ideal as a gateway to southern Africa

2.Cultural and artistic capital – the city is the artistic and cultural capital of the country

3.Tourism – the city is situated strategically near major tourist attractions such as the Victoria Falls , Rhodes Matopos National Park , Hwange Game reserve and the untamed beauty of Binga as well as one of the best natural history museums in the continent

4.Warehousing – the location of the city makes it ideal for tertiary industries such as warehousing which can exploit the many empty factories which the city has which may never be resurrected because of global competitiveness factors. The empty factories can be used for warehousing for goods on transit and aquaculture

5.Transport and technology

Obviously some of these are dependent on upstream enabling factors such as a functional economy, devolution enabling legislation , good governance at national level amongst other factors .

Bulawayo must and can be saved. It all starts with electing capable leaders, having a vibrant management, a responsive and responsible citizenry undergirded by  a long term vision for the city .

Let’s make Bulawayo 2050 happen. Bulawayo vision 2050 makes it impossible for chancers and opportunists to be councillors because the task of implementing this vision will require people with skills and competencies which deliver the vision . Bulawayo shall not die , Bulawayo must be and will be saved .The first steps begin with you and me as ordinary residents :

1.Elect quality leaders

2.Hold leaders to account

3.Pay rates

4. Maintain cleanliness and eliminate litter pollution

5.Plant a tree

6.Petition political parties to recall non performing councillors

7.Share our dream of Bulawayo 2050

Mayibuye !

Dumisani O Nkomo

Dumisani O Nkomo is a writer and opinion leader . He is the Chief Executive Officer of Habakkuk Trust

He writes here in his personal capacity