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THE Minister of Local Government, Public Works and national Housing, Cde July Moyo, has just concluded training workshops with councillors, chief executive officers and Town Clerks of local authorities from Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South to familiarise them with laws that govern their work.

Government is keen to acquaint local authorities with the Constitution so that they play their role in the implementation of devolution by identifying marginalised areas and working closely with Central Government to improve them. Councils are central to the implementation of devolution and Government wants them to run their councils independently and play a major role in devolvement of power.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has prioritised implementation of devolution and placed it in Minister Moyo’s purview with a mandate to implement it at least within the first 100 days of assumption of office. Government is currently seized with the issue, with Minister Moyo dealing with the political side where people have already been elected for positions in provincial councils and what is left is to amend the old Provincial Councils and Administration Act.

The amendment will then bring into effect the council, its membership and their duties after which the political mechanisms of devolution will be fleshed out.
Minister Moyo will then pilot everything through Cabinet and Parliament. On the financial side, capital budgets will be given to all Provincial Councils as well as the 92 local authorities to look after roads, sewerage and water. Marginalised areas will also be taken care of with Government called upon to make sure that monies are voted for by Parliament through the Ministry of Finance to uplift the standards of living of those people.

The third aspect of the financial provisions for devolution require that Central Government every year puts aside five percent in the national budget so that it can be distributed to provincial councils and local authorities to assist the whole of Zimbabwe to be uplifted. In Matabeleland, devolution is a sensitive matter due to the perceived marginalisation of some areas and underdevelopment therein.

In his address to councillors from Matabeleland North in Bulawayo on Monday, Minister Moyo said from his interactions with councillors, there was a feeling that they are marginalised in all sectors. He said the Constitution enjoins Government to give opportunities to communities to indicate what their marginalisation entails. This could be water, health, roads or electricity which Government has to budget for.

Minister Moyo said in order to implement decentralisation, councillors and their staff must understand how to budget for it. “This is the intention of the Constitution and President Mnangagwa has said we must implement. I’ve just finished meeting the councillors here in Bulawayo, Matabeleland South and North and the objective of the workshops is to make them ready to present their well thought out budgets, raise their own money and exploit the Government to assist them.

“The purpose of the workshops is to also try to alert them about the issues in their own Acts such as the Rural District Councils Act and the Urban Councils Act. It’s important that councils are run within the law using the statutes of the constitution. If they do that, particularly if they look at the provisions of the constitution they can attack the issues of marginalisation,” said Minister Moyo.

He said from his interactions with the councillors, those who live in border areas feel they’re marginalised in all sectors. “As the Government, we should come up with better ways to uplift the standards of living of the people in these areas. For every power that has been given to our local authority, there’s an enabling act.

“Central government has to work directly with the local authorities to uplift service delivery. There should be no ‘them’ or ‘us’ because chapter 14 of the constitution even states that there must be inter-governmental cooperation so that there is good service delivery in every part of the country,” said Minister Moyo.

Therefore, he said, central government officials who have been deployed to communities should work hand in hand with councillors and also train them.
“It’s a joint venture between central government and local government for the benefit of the people,” said Minister Moyo.

We welcome the cordial interaction between the Minister and local authorities and hope that it will go a long way in smoothening the implementation of devolution and uplifting the lives of people in Matabeleland who stand to benefit a lot from the exercise. It is important that there be no discord or political grandstanding as this might impede efforts to develop the Matabeleland region.

We urge councillors and local authorities’ staff to acquaint themselves with the Constitution so that they are ready to play their part when the Government eventually rolls out devolution. They should also be able to present well thought out budgets to Central Government.