Wave after Wave
JUNE 2021
3.1 Our Recommendations
Depoliticisation: The depoliticisation of local authorities is one of the key steps that should
be taken to ensure that elected and appointed officials serve their mandate without any
political interference.
The recent recalls of councilors and the subsequent continued ban of by elections has left
citizens dis-enfranchised and the whole politicization of the local government secretariat has
resulted in priority being given to political survival and power struggles ahead of serving
people.
Overally, in order to improve service delivery there should be increased public sector
investment, promotion of ethics in local government administration, sanctioning of financial
malpractice and strengthening of intergovernmental synchronization.
The fact that the opposition controls most of the urban local authorities has been the bone of
contention as Zanu PF, which controls central government, uses its influence to interfere in the
operations of local authorities then blame the opposition for all the problems.
For example, in December, President Mnangagwa was quoted in the media saying
“The problems obtaining in our towns and cities are because of failure by the MDC but as
Government we have already made a decision that we cannot sit idly while the situation
continues to deteriorate.”
“We sat down and agreed to rescue the situation so that our cities do not collapse totally so
soon something along those lines will start happening,” said President Mnangagwa.
This came as local authorities blamed government for not allocating them funds for road
rehabilitation from the Zimbabwe National Roads Authority.
This political blame game can only result in more decay in urban authorities and this must be
arrested immediately.
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