Rethinking Local Governance
By Dumisani O Nkomo
In order for any country to experience sustainable growth
epitomized by sound service delivery, inclusivity and citizen participation, it
is vital that a vibrant local governance foundation be in place. Importantly
the local government tier of governance in
a polity has to be functional, effective, relevant and responsive. Since local
government is the tier of government which is closest to the daily needs of
people it is vital that this strata exists within an architecture which allows
it to deliver economic and social dividends through service delivery. In the
Zimbabwean context it is imperative that we begin to rethink our local
governance landscape and this article proffers a few insights into how this can
be achieved.
Service Delivery Challenges
The provision of quality, affordable, accessible and
inclusive basic services is the alpha and omega of local governance. In order
to trigger this adequate service provision there has to be a balanced demand
and supply matrix. The demand side of local governance is the sum total of the
needs,aspirations, voices, demands, rights of citizens and residents who are
the primary consumers of services provided by local authorities. Local
authorities whether urban or rural form the basis of the supply side of local governance.
In terms of the Urban Councils Act and the Rural District Councils Act, local
authorities exist to ensure that residents, villagers, house dwellers etc have
adequate access to services and development. If this then is the case there is
a strong argument for strong residents associations, community organizations,
local business organizations having adequate space, capacity and skills to
demand services and development from the suppliers of the services who are
principally but not necessarily the local
authorities. I would like to argue that though local authorities especially in
the form of municipalities are supposed to be the principal service providers
although this is not necessarily the case because of the centralization of
services such as bulk water supply and electricity.
Centralization
Whereas the pre-independence era was predicated by local
authorities that were mandated to provide services such as electricity and
water, the post-independence era or rather error in this instance occasioned
the centralization of some vital services. This culminated in legislation which
brought about the Zimbabwe National Water Authority [ZINWA ] , the Zimbabwe
National Road Administration [ZINARA] and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority[ZESA] .
If government is serious about devolution of power, there
has to be a radical rethink about this service provision paradigm, which
centralizes both power and provision of basic services whilst reducing revenue
streams of local authorities. If we are to embrace the principle and practice
of devolution and decentralization of
power and services as a nation, we also need to have a radical rethink about
our current architecture which places local authorities on the margins of the
service provision super structure of the country.
Principally, I would like to advocate for the eventual
devolution of provision of energy, road construction and water delivery to
local authorities. This has to be done incrementally or in an evolutionary
manner because if it is fast tracked it can create new problems. Such new
problems include incompetent and corrupt local councils that could possibly
accentuate the service delivery crisis, which the nation is clearly facing. It
would take between 5 to 10 years to adequately devolve provision of these three
services to all local authorities as they are all at different levels of
capacity and technical craft competence.
Why Local Authorities Failing To Deliver
Currently, most local authorities are failing to deliver
their mandate of delivering quality services to citizens for a plethora of
reasons which I will explore. Provision of services such as refuse collection
remains a challenge in major cities such
as Harare and Bulawayo. Other local authorities are battling to provide adequate sewer reticulation and a swathe of
municipalities are failing to do the most basic thing that a local authority
should and can do that is to keep cities and towns clean .
The reasons for this failure include but is not limited to :
- Outright corruption
- Incompetence
- Lack of capacity
- Limited revenue base
- Central government
interference- the case of local authorities being forced to acquire fire
tenders from Belarus is an example.
There must be inbuilt mechanisms at the oversight level of
sub-national governance to contain the scourge
of local level corruption. It would be naïve to assume that once all power is
devolved or decentralized corruption will disappear. Instead there may be, as
there has been a proliferation of local level corruption. Provincial and
Metropolitan Councils must be legally strengthened to exercise legislative,
judicial and administrative oversight over local authorities. Provincial
government or sub-national government must in
turn be accountable to central government and parliament.
Issues that relate to lack of capacity and incompetence
have to do with both the supply and demand
side of local governance. Citizens elect inept and manifestly unable,
unwilling and incompetent councillors then expect miracles from those very same
people. Citizens have to be more responsible
on the demand side by electing individuals that are capable of delivering.
Unfortunately the partisan nature of Zimbabwean
politics makes this impossible. One only has to be a member of ZANU P.F or the
C.C.C. to win as a councillor.
Rethinking Local Government Elections
Ideally, local government elections must be delinked from
Presidential and Parliamentary Elections and held in totally different years.
The assumption is that once this is done local governance matters will emerge as separate electoral issuess. This of course is in theory since this was the case in
1980 and 1985 when local government elections were separate from national
elections. I still argue that local and national elections must be separated
for the following reasons;
1.
To ensure that local
government elections are issue based or based on
local priorities. Usually they are immersed in
toxic politics of either Zanu must go or ZANU must stay and not on issues that
affect people on a day to day basis.
2.
It will be easier to hold
parties and individuals to account.
3.
Independent
candidates will stand a higher chance of winning.
Traditionally independents have been the best candidates
due to their lack of affinity for partisan
interests. However most have lost heavily due
to our electoral system which deifies
political parties before whom all should bow and confess that they rule.
A big question for all of us as we head for the next
elections in 2023, is what issues are at stake in the different localities next
year? Ideally the issue of controversial
parking systems, failure to provide basic
services should be local government issues in cities like Harare and Bulawayo.
In other areas the issues could be different but candidates that contest in
elections must be able to participate in town hall debates and meetings where
they outline their policies and ideas. Local government elections must be about
the best ideas, the best leaders and the best policies and local government
elections must be a contest of ideas. This is not to say national elections
must be otherwise but this is easier to achieve at local level.
Broadening of Revenue Streams
Lastly I would like to argue that local authorities are unable to deliver
services because they have dwindling and limited revenue streams . A failing
national economy has eroded ratepayers
abilities to pay for rates and services. Local authorities have very limited
central government support. This is due to
diminished incomes which has resulted in rate payers being unable to pay for
rates and services. This is also caused by central government starving local
government of revenue streams from vehicle licencing [ which used to be
localized ], for example. This is also
exacerbated by local authorities[1] inability to think outside the box to broaden their
revenue bases in order to provide quality services. Without broad revenue bases local authorities will be
unable to deliver basic services.
In
conclusion Local governance should be given the requisite attention that it
deserves in Zimbabwe in order to improve the lives of citizens in various local
authorities. The devolution concept has to be delinked from political party
contestation for it to carry its relevant meaning. Political party
grandstanding has killed local community initiatives and should come to an end
in Zimbabwe if local authorities are to effectively run their programs in their
quest to deliver the basic services to their residents.
Dumisani O Nkomo is a writer and author of the Book No
Holds Barred. He can be contacted on this
email address. Dumisani.nkomo @gmail.com
.
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