HARARE - Zimbabwe's political governing structure should cede power to provinces and districts, said Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu) leader, Dumiso Dabengwa at the weekend.“We need devolution of power to the provinces so that they can compete to develop their communities and thereby develop Zimbabwe,” he said. “The practice of concentrating power in one office is old fashioned and causes unnecessary red tape.”
Dabengwa was addressing a seminar in the capital organised to develop a 30 year vision for Zimbabwe.
“Each local authority must be able to contribute towards the rehabilitation of the economy,” Dabengwa said. “It must not only be certain areas while other areas are left out. We must do this without bias towards or against a particular area or a group of people.”
Achieving true unity
He continued, “Being one does not mean one group must dominate others. It means we must recognise each other and share resources and responsibilities in order to achieve true unity.” He warned of more chaos if the government did not formulate a strategy that would ensure that development would spread to the four corners of the country.
“If we do not do so, our districts and provinces will drift apart from each other and we will eventually be a visionless country where communities are alienated. The former Zanu (PF) politburo member further castigated Mugabe’s government for ignoring pleas by former Vice President Joshua Nkomo to embark on a gradual land reform process soon after independence in 1980.
He said this would have prevented the violent land grab that has characterised Zimbabwe’s land reform programme over the past nine years. “Nkomo wanted the commercial farmers engaged as early as 1981. He didnt want to wait until the Lancaster House Constitution clause on land expired,” Dabengwa said.
The will of the masses
In crafting the Vision 2040, Dabengwa said, government should avoid crafting a document that did not reflect the wishes of the masses.
“We need a vision that assures everyone will benefit from the national cake, wherever we are without having to scramble for it,” he said. “It is important to take cognisance of the people’s aspirations and not for the leadership to assume what the people need.
Dabengwa broke away from Zanu (PF) before last year’s Presidential elections, citing lack of flexibility by the Zimbabwean leader to embrace leadership change.