Hold Local Government Elections Separately in 2023

Local Government Elections Must Be held Separately[edited ]

By Dumisani O. Nkomo

It’s election year again and as usual the usual suspects are out there promising everything to everyone, everywhere they go. Pertinently below the rubble, of harmonized elections lies a very important plebiscite, local government elections. I would like to strongly argue that like in the past local government or council elections should be separated from presidential and parliamentary elections. The decision to have harmonized elections leading to the requisite legal alignment was largely a cost cutting administrative decision but it came a very big long term cost as the electorate now does not give a hoot about municipal elections because of its obsession with the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Importance of Local Government

Local government in my humble opinion is the most foundational basis of a democracy as it is that tier of government that citizens are most able to interact with. Local government should thus be afforded the importance due to it as it relates to the daily of people. However because local government elections have been lumped with  legislative and presidential elections, the importance of this vital tier of government has been buried in an avalanche of electoral infatuation. Hardly anybody takes note of local government elections when they vote since most people tend to vote in a linear fashion rather than laterally. By this I mean the voting behaviour of people in Zimbabwe is that they tend to vote for the party or in a single block fashion without laterally and cognitively taking into account the multiple level requirements or imperatives for each level of governance. Subsequently voters are most likely to vote for their presidential candidate preference and then vote for a legislator and councillor from the same party without necessarily exploring the merits or demerits of the individual councillor they are voting for. The political erotica adrenalin of the presidential candidates and the  adrenaline of the parliamentary elections reduces the local government contest to a farce. Vital issues relating to and related to local governance, service delivery and local economic development are hence compromised in the process.

Specifically at local government level there are peculiar issues which are not necessarily at stake at national level and these pertain to:

1.       Service Delivery

The primary mandate of local authorities is to provide services to residents including provision of clean water , refuse collection , roads and recreational facilities. People that contest at this level must therefore demonstrate capacity or propensity for the same. If government elections were held separately it would be easier to identify individuals and political parties that are best positioned to deliver at local level. At an individual municipal candidate level the electorate is able to measure the candidate’s personal plan or manifestoes versus the service delivery needs of residents.

Political parties with the best manifestoes to address local issues can also be then elected at such a level but in a national harmonized plebiscite they are all too often buried in gigantic electoral avalanches. Beyond elections it is also easier to hold the successful councillor to account since councillors reside locally and are accessible unlike presidential and parliamentary candidates who tend to be more distant. In the hullaballoo of harmonized elections, hardly anybody remembers the issues at stake and as such basic service delivery issues are dumped at the altar of electoral and political expedience. It is desirable at times to have smaller geo specific interest based political parties winning at local government level rather than having big parties winning at all levels. This brings about a greater checks and balances than having dominant political parties at all levels.

Local Economic Development

Local government addresses issues to do with local economic development which may differ from broader macro level issues at stake at national level . Municipal elections clearly identify those with capacity to address local economic development issues.

Political Rationale

The system of separating local government elections from legislative and presidential elections will also help political parties to assess their popularity and improve their performance at national level . Local government elections can thus be a useful instrument of measuring the political relevance, popularity and chances of  political players.

After all is said and done there must be a separation of local government elections from parliamentary and presidential elections.

Dumisani Nkomo is the Chief Executive Officer of Habakkuk Trust. He writes here in his personal capacity

Dumisani O Nkomo: Is Nkosana doing a Makoni ?

Dumisani O Nkomo: Is Nkosana doing a Makoni ?: Is Nkosana Moyo a Decoy or Real Deal ? By Dumisani O. Nkomo The arrival on the political stage of Nkosana Moyo has been received with m...

Is Nkosana doing a Makoni ?

Is Nkosana Moyo a Decoy or Real Deal ?

By Dumisani O. Nkomo

The arrival on the political stage of Nkosana Moyo has been received with mixed feelings. Just like Simba Makoni did in the run up to the 2008 elections Moyo has generated an equal amount of energy, excitement, dissention, opposition and measured confusion. The cardinal question on many people’s minds is “Will Nkosana Moyo have a Simba Makoni effect on the 2018 elections?” Is he the real deal? Can he actually dislodge ZANU P.F from power or is he a ZANU P.F project? Does the country need another super genius academic to rescue it from this 37-year-old political and economic quagmire epitomized by ZANU P.F mis-governance and legendary corruption?

What Nkosana Offers

Dr Moyo appears to offer a welcome relief to the Zimbabwean political landscape dominated by geriatrics, recycled politicians and at times clueless opposition leaders. The man has a swathe of ideas to turn around the economy and appears to have a profile fit for an American President. He has the academic credentials, the business acumen and looks some of the ladies say. But this of course is not a beauty pageant nor is country’s rough political terrain for  naïve theorist so his critics say. Regardless of this however Nkosana presents fresh challenges to opposition leaders to pull up their socks and rid themselves of a culture of political entitlement. Zimbabweans do after all have a choice to choose political leaders of their choice and it is the democratic right of every eligible citizen to aspire to the presidency. This is neither a sin nor a crime but a constitutional right .

Similarities Makoni

Moyo’s critics argue that he is an exact political prototype of Dr Simba Makoni. Makoni like Moyo also served in the government as Industry minister as a young and intelligent technocrat. Like Makoni Moyo boasts of Phd in the pure sciences. Makoni a [phd in Chemistry and Moyo in Physics. Both men have a swathe of international experience with Makoni serving as Executive Secretary of SADC for a lengthy period and Moyo leading various international organizations in South Africa including the Mandella Institute for Development [ M.I.N.D ] .  Nkosana Moyo has an apparent appeal to the middle class, urban youth, segments of academia an appeal which of course is still to be subjected to the realities of African electoral realities. Like Makoni , Moyo appears to proffer a third way. A way which is not like the ZANU way of autocracy or the Morgan Tsvangirai way which has been described by some as uncouth or lacking in political stratagem. However, is this third way  a mere mirage which will lead people into the wilderness instead of leading them to the promised land of a new Zimbabwe founded upon democracy, justice, social and economic transformation.

The problem I have is that whilst Dr Moyo has a lot of positives on his side his sudden appearance on the political scene appears to a deja vous moment. Once again there is the strong possibility that the vote will be split, that Zimbabweans will be confused at the last moment and a formidable coalition be scuttled by the emergence of this late arrival to the political scene. In the same way in which Simba Makoni attracted a lot of sympathy, energy and ultimately split the decisive 2008 vote, Dr Moyo is likely to do the same. He will be seen by some if not many as a ZANU P.F project. Whether or not he is one may be difficult to disprove to millions of Zimbabweans especially those in the rural areas. Actually Dr Moyo’s assertion that those who know him will campaign for him in the rural areas is the height of political naivety. The Zimbabwean presidential election is won and lost in the rural areas since the majority of the voting electorate resides there. ZANU P.F knows this well so their strategy will be to divide the urban vote and go all out for the rural vote.

I have nothing against Dr Moyo and I actually think he is a great person but he may not be what the country needs right now. He is too soft and apologetic to appeal to the mass of Zimbabweans who want to see Mugabe’s back. His messaging is so ambiguous in  such in a manner that confuses the ordinary Zimbabwean. Whilst the Mugabe must go mantra is not sufficient in this day and age, ambiguous messaging which is silent on the desirability of democratically  dislodging ZANU P.F is worrying .Moyo is an ideal candidate for the 2023 or 2028 elections . He is most relevant in a political landscape where ZANU P.F and Mugabe have  already been removed .Furthermore Moyo signalled his advent into mainstream politics by ranting against coalitions as being undemocratic . He may be right in other contents globally but in Zimbabwe right now a formidable coalition is imperative in achieving long term socio economic and political transformation. Moyo must not do a Simba Makoni on us especially at this eleventh hour .He may have noble intentions but noble intentions but noble intentions are not enough to win elections .

Mayibuye !

Dumisani O Nkomo

Nkomo is the Chief Executive Officer of Habakkuk Trust and Spokesperson of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. He writes here in his personal capacity.

Bad governance major setback for Zim : Crisis Coalition

Why Dokora Must Be Stopped

REASONS WHY ZIMBABWEANS SHOULD REJECT DOKORA’S CURRICULM REFORM

By Dumisani Nkomo

I would like to add my voice to the growing chorus of Zimbabweans that are opposed to Education Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora ‘s education reform or is it “deform agenda which were ratified by the cabinet on 22 September 2016 and unveiled by the Minister on the 21 st of January 2017 in a policy paper entitled “Ground Zero – Getting Traction “. I would like to argue that the changes to Zimbabwes’curriculam are not in sync with the best education systems in the world . It is designed to create a new generation of zombies, incapable of independent thought, leadership, reasoning and enterprise contrary to claims that it seeks to achieve the former. Importantly the education reform agenda is not supported by broader reform at macro reform including but not limited to budget priorities which support the new direction and agenda. This article will prove that Minister Dokora’s new thrust is not supported by top end budget support for critical areas such as industry, science, technology, innovation, and I.C T ‘s .Children are literally being pushed nowhere very fast as there is no tangible government commitment to the productive sector .

Structural Discord

According to Dr Dokora the new education curriculum seeks to modernize education by ensuring that graduates of this system have the following skills:

1.Critical thinking

2.Problem solving

3.Leadership

4.Communication

5.Team Building

6.Technological skills

It is therefore strange that the government in the process of promoting the above which are laudable and commendable goes on to introduce changes which have nothing whatsoever with cultivating the any of those attributes .In order to cultivate leadership ,critical thinking ,problem solving etc. the same education minister goes on to introduce subjects like Mass Display from infant level right up to O’ Level . Physical education , introduction of vernacular languages as medium of teaching ,physical education .Mass  display is a concept celebrated in many dictatorships such as North Korea and  famously during Adolf  Hitler’s Germany where the Hitler youth was formed to brainwash children .Mass Display is an attempt at mass political indoctrination and hypnosis of infants and children .The national pledge , physical education , mass display at infant level smack of militarization of the education sector through the back door .Strengthening of indigenous languages is important on its own but to go to the extent of making them the medium of instruction may disadvantage our children in the long term in a very competitive global environment . It is sufficient for indigenous languages to be compulsory up to a certain level without using them as a medium of teaching .

At O Level the following subjects are now  compulsory :

1.Agriculture

2.Physical education

3.General Science

4.Heritage Studies

5.Indigenous languages

6.Mathematics

7.English

The issue of forcing subjects on students will destroy the ability of the education system to identify, develop and nurture the unique competencies and talents of children. Of course I agree that Maths, Science, English and one indigenous language can be compulsory but the  high number of compulsory subjects reduces students to zombies and robots . Not every child is meant to go into agriculture, not every child will be a sportsperson and after all the government is not investing enough resources in ensuring that these sectors are developed.

There is no empirical evidence that making Physical Education and Mass Display and Heritage Studies  will promote critical thinking , improve communication  or develop leadership . If anything subjects like literature develop critical faculties more effectively than Heritage Studies which are a subject of contention because of our contested history and multiple national narratives.

Economic Hypocrisy

The government’s education curriculum reform is pure deception because it does not mirror the government’s budget, policy priorities and imperatives. Countries which have some of the best education systems in the world have invested heavily in education and the upstream sectors that support education priorities as reflected in the curriculum. Estonia for example invests 4 % of of its Gross Domestic Product [ G.D.P] into education] whilst Qatar is investing its oil profits on education. In Zimbabwe how much of our diamond revenue went into education of the unaccounted 15 billion diamond revenue.

Whilst education received the highest budget vote of U.S800 million in the 2017 budget   other sectors which support educational priorities or pillars such as science , information communication technology ,energy etc which drive the productive sector received paltry amounts in the 2017 budget . I.C T is compulsory at school but the government only allocated U.S 12 million to this sector. The energy sector supports the end level side of science   and mathematics education but was only allocated U.S 5 million in last year’s budget . Sectors which support science and technology such as aviation received U.S 4,9 million . This is compared to U. S 22 million allocated to the welfare of war veterans , detainees etc. .Official government rhetoric pontificates about encouraging school children to be productive and yet a paltry U.S 18 million was allocated to Industry and Commerce in the 2017 budget . Self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship is preached about but  the ministry of Small to Medium Scale enterprises was allocated just U.S 6,3 million to achieve this noble goal . The office of the president and cabinet was allocated 176  million , Home Affairs 366 million and defence U.S 340 million .

This is a clear indication that the government’s curriculum development is not underpinned or supported by broad macro pillars such as budgetary support. In the absence of such support there will be inadequate infrastructure and resources to support the new thrust. Forcing people to do Physical education and sports, or expressive arts when there is no budgetary support for such sectors at the end of the education  value chain is a sheer waste of time .As long as there is no allocation of resources towards scientific research , innovation  and small to medium scale enterprises the whole new educational thrust is an exercise in futility .

Comparative Analysis In Education Systems

The new education curriculum has no peers in terms of comparing with the best education systems in the world . Finland has the best education system in the world but formal education for children starts at 7 unlike here where  children will literally spend all their childhood at school .In Finland children are not stressed with too much homework and teachers spend only four hours a day at school . There is however high investment in the professional development of teachers .According to experts  Finland has gone against the tide of global education which is based on standardization ,core subjects and control .

Zimbabwe is going in the exact direction with its emphasis on control ,  compulsory core subjects , and standardization .In Japan which is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world there is six years of elementary education , three years of junior high school , then three years of high school and university education is optional and lasts for four  years . In spite of this Japan has some of the world’s   highest standards in terms of science , maths, literacy and has few peers in technology .This was not achieved through pre historic command education  as is the case in Zimbabwe but careful planning , research , investment in systems and policies over many years .According to studies the Netherlands has the worlds happiest children because their education system does not place a strain on children .Netherlands is among the top 5 countries in terms of quality education in the whole world .Another country worth emulating is Qatar which is investing heavily in education through oil proceeds . The education minister for that country Dr Abdulalla bin Ali Thani [ a former teacher ] has brought  a revolution in education as a result of futuristic planning and ploughing of resources into the sector .

It is disheartening that only U.S 10 million will be ploughed into orphans and vulnerable children through the Basic Education Assistance Module [ B.E.A.M] whilst over U.S  700 million [combined] to the ministry of Defence , Home affairs and the Office of the president .

Zimbabwe is simply not spending enough money on basement development of educational infrastructure , production of textbooks , provision of science equipment and training of teachers . All these are essential in ensuring that an education system is effective and functional. On the upper end there is little investment in research, innovation, information communication technology and industrial development. In the absence of these the thrust of the new curriculum becomes suicidal, genocidal and self-defeating. The new system will virtually set up our children for failure

In essence parents and the people of Zimbabwe must reject the new curriculum as it is not based on current trends and is not supported by macro mechanisms to facilitate up stream activities to absorb products of the new system. Christians should reject this curriculum because it has forced Christianity out of schools even though Zimbabwe is largely  a country with a  Christian ethos . This is not to say Christianity but be forced on children but the Afro Christian consensus of our nation constitutes an indelible component of our nationhood. The curriculum seeks to militarize the education system by turning children into tools of mass political hypnosis.

Dumisani O . Nkomo is the Chief Executive Officer of Habakkuk Trust  . He is also a former teacher

Dumisani O Nkomo: Challenges of Local Government 11- Gaps In Develop...

Dumisani O Nkomo: Challenges of Local Government 11- Gaps In Develop...: Challenges of Local Governance – Structural Gaps in Development Planning By Dumisani O. Nkomo In this second instalment I will seek to ...

Challenges of Local Government 11- Gaps In Development Planning

Challenges of Local Governance – Structural Gaps in Development Planning

By Dumisani O. Nkomo

In this second instalment I will seek to take a closer look at development planning processes as a key component of local governance. Community based planning is a key component of local governance as it shapes the development agenda. Specifically, it then becomes critical to analyse the architecture of rural development planning. Notably whilst Zimbabwe ostensibly has a fairly good framework for rural development, this framework as I noted last week largely does not work and needs to be strengthened and reformed for it to deliver the development dividend. For the purposes of focus I will dwell more on development planning vis a vis rural local governance.

VIDCOS AND WADCOS

The Traditional Leaders Act and the Rural District Development Act before the advent of the omnibus Local Governance law envisages Village Development Committees and Ward Development Committees as key players in the process of rural development. The Village Development Committees [VIDCOS] are elected by the Village Assembly cyclically and are headed by Village Heads who are not elected by are in place by virtue of being traditional leaders. Their key mandate is to facilitate development at Village level and critically to formulate Village Development Plans. At ward level there is the ward development committee which is headed by the councillor the elected representative arm of local government. The assumption is that the Village Development Committees are able to produce plans at village level which are then synthesized at ward level by the WADCO and approved by the Ward assembly which is chaired by the headperson i.e. headman or woman [Umlisa ] and consists of all village heads .It is obvious that the development of wards cannot be left entirely to unelected structures and or individuals . Whilst VIDCOS are elected the Village heads who head the VIDCOS are not elected and go on to represent the villages at ward level.  

The underlying problem is that most of these VIDCOS are either dysfunctional or have a congenital incapacity to develop Village plans. The result most of the time is that that the councillor sits under some tree and writes up a ward plan on behalf of the villagers.

 My proposals are as follows:

1.  Village Assemblies should be headed by elected chairpersons who have a reasonable track record in development and leadership at local level.

2.Secondly VIDCOS and WACOS must be provided with a planning template for the village and ward plans.

3. VIDCOS and WADCOS must be sufficiently trained on their functions especially those relating to planning which by nature is a technical process and cannot be left to people accidentally chosen from the ranks of the unemployed “. Rural district councils and Non-Governmental Organizations can work together on this.

Linking District, Provincial and National Processes

Ideally the development plans are supposed to then move to the Rural District Development Committee [R.D.D.C] which consists of heads of government line ministries, council subcommittee chairs, experts as well as the district heads of the intelligence, the army, the police etc.. The last bit is clearly unacceptable and has no room in a modern nation state. After making technical input into the plans, the consolidated draft plan is then supposed to go to the Rural District Development Committee for fine tuning, adoption and implementation.

The district plans largely remain illusionary and romanticist because they are divorced from the five year strategic plans of local authorities and the local authority budget consultative process which is done at ward level. Budget prioritization, budget formulation and development planning must be integrally integrated if development planning is to yield the desired results

The local authority budget should largely speak to the development agenda in the District Development Plans and not be a stand-alone process.

Provincial Plans and Budgets

Tragically there is no clear link besides lines of command between the development processes that begin at village level and end at district level with development planning at provincial and national level. The Provincial Assembly and its attendant structures are ideally seized with this but the reality is that without provincial budgets allocated to provincial development structures this model of local governance planning will not work.

In Swaziland which has five regions, each region or province has an allocation annually and this makes provincial government responsive to the demands of the citizenry. An elected provincial governor must chair a provincial assembly which has a budget vote or allocation from central government. If each of the countries ten provinces was allocated let’s say U. S100 million this could go a long way in facilitating development.

The current constitution provides a fairly good framework for allocation of resources between the different tiers of government namely national, provincial and local.

 Section 298 [ii] states that revenue raised nationally must be shared equitably between central government, provincial government and local tiers of government “. This clause must be as a matter of urgency be implemented so that the development and service delivery agenda of local governance is achieved.

An alternative model could be retention of revenue raised locally or at provincial level with a certain component let’s say 30 %going to the national coffers. This would enable both local authorities and provincial governments to be effective in their mandate of delivering development and allocating resources to communities. Section 301 of the constitution of Zimbabwe speaks eloquently to the imperative of allocation of capital grants between provincial and local tiers of government.

Local and provincial government planning processes will continue to be a mirage if they are not underpinned by allocation of resources through public finance and budget processes.

Dumisani O. Nkomo is the Chief Executive Officer of Habakkuk Trust, a social entrepreneur and commentator and spokesperson for Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition  – He writes here in his personal capacity