Zimbabwe is now facing a real danger of becoming a culturally corrupt and fraudulent nation. The penchant for luxury is regrettable. There is something wrong with the Zimbabwean political system. As a nation we need to address this problem and we cannot continue harvesting thorns from the current crop of councillors.
Chronic corruption
There is chronic corruption in local authorities that has contributed significantly to poverty, inequality, and inefficiency in social spending programmes. There are three possible explanations for these undesirable scenarios:
• The councillors joined local authorities with virtually no experience and expertise in local governance;
• The quality of councillors in analysing legislation and the budget is extremely poor. They cannot unpack the relevant pieces of legislation, i.e. Urban Councils Act Chapter 29:15, the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act Chapter 29:12 and Rural District Council Act Chapter 29:13;
• The dearth of policy formulation and budget analysis skills and competencies in the local authorities is deplorable.
Recently, the Local Government Rural and Urban Development Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo expressed his dismay at the performance of the local councillors when he told the media that:
“As we move forward, it is our view that there is merit in introducing some minimum educational qualifications for councillors with the view of enhancing their craft literacy and competence. With respect to performance of 2012 local authorities’ budgets, we noted with concern that most budgets performed at levels below 50% due to various reasons”.
Implied and gleaned from the Minister’s statements is that councillors lack capacity i.e. the ability to conceptualise, formulate, manage and evaluate policies and programmes of action as well as monitoring and evaluating municipal resources. It is important for councillors to have diverse capacities so they can:
• Formulate and design implementable policies that may address socio-economic problems;
• Represent the interests of the electorates and mobilise local energy and resources;
• Adopt a broader view of the needs and potential of their wards as whole communities and not fragmented entities;
• Utilise and understand local authorities’ governance and implementation structures, systems and procedures in executing the various provisions of legislation, rules and regulations governing local authorities; and
• Have a sufficient grasp of technical and professional issues to make a meaningful policy contribution.
A councillor’s role
What is the general role of a councillor? Most councillors do not know what their job description is and view it as a full time job through which they can earn a regular income, accumulate wealth and politically meddle in the implementation of their own decisions.
A councillor provides a fundamental interface between the local authority and the community that he/she serves. Generally, a councillor must wear three hats:
• Committee member (a council has various committees that supervise the work of different council departments);
• Representative (for the electorate, usually carrying the voice of the party that won in the respective ward);
• Individual and collective responsibilities for the council’s activities (council’s decisions are binding for all councillors, irrespective of individual opinions.)
Implied here is that they perform policy overview and scrutiny, executive decision making, provide political leadership and determine planning applications and community representation. To discharge these roles, councillors must indeed have minimum qualifications. It might be argued that the minimum qualifications are not necessary, however, the current turbulent and dynamic environment requires entrepreneurial people who are proactive and think outside the box.
Minimum qualifications
We propose the following minimum qualifications for one to become a councillor:
• All councillors must have five ordinary level subjects including English Language;
• Chairpersons, deputy chairpersons and committee heads, in addition to the foregoing requirement, should have tertiary qualifications and a minimum of three years experience either in the public sector, private sector or just appropriate experience;
• At least 18-years-old on the day of the election;
• Zimbabwean citizen;
• Registered voter on the day of nomination;
• For 12 months before the date of nomination, the aspiring councillor must have been the owner or tenant of land or property within the constituency he/she wants to represent.
A councillor can be disqualified if:
• He/she is affirmed bankrupt and insolvent;
• Estate sequestrated;
• Has served a criminal sentence of more than three months without the option of a fine, during the previous three years.
We are of the view that formal academic qualifications are a necessary precondition but insufficient on their own to guarantee effectiveness and efficiency in the discharge of local authorities’ legislated mandate to the electorate. Academic qualifications are only performance indicators that guarantee manageable outcomes. It means the selected councillors can be trained and can apprehend new skills and accumulate new knowledge. Formal qualifications alone cannot arrest the unbridled corruption in local authorities.
A thorough review
The system of governance is fractured in such a way that it needs a thorough review to harmonise legislation, policies and systems, in order to be both relevant and responsive to the interests of Zimbabweans. It is a fact that some of the most qualified ministers in government have become the most corrupt and incompetent; bring us to the question of values and principles within our national body.
In addition to formal qualifications, dedication, genuine interest and awareness in political, financial and social issues in local authorities and the country as a whole must be prerequisites for one to become a councillor. This would depend on the selection criteria of the political party concerned. This way, councillors will be able to comprehend the public service in terms of Government policies and priorities.
This can only be reality if councillors possess the following skills:
• Communication and presentation skills to express the needs of local residents;
• Interpersonal skills;
• Commitment to representing the electorate;
• Decisive, quick thinking;
• Critical mind;
• Strategic thinker;
• Negotiation abilities to resolve disagreements and conflicts;
• Leadership ability to chair meetings and guide deliberations;
• Effective reader
Nziramasanga Report
However, the scourge of corruption entrenched in local authorities can only be curbed through implementing recommendations made by the Nziramasanga Report of 1999. The Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training Report reaffirmed the need for the curriculum to engender a Zimbabwean culture through the philosophy of unhu/ubuntu that promotes virtues of responsibility, honesty, justice, trustworthiness, hard work, integrity, a cooperative spirit, solidarity, devotion to family and the welfare of the country.
It is a public concern that Zimbabwean youths are now rude, disrespectful of adults and generally disregard traditional values. The Zimbabwean political system has let the people down. It puts mediocre but influential people into office on political party tickets and not meritocracy.
We monitored the 2013 pre-budget consultative meetings by the Harare City Council in the various wards. We observed that the pre-budget meetings were disorganised and most of the councillors exhibited poor leadership qualities. Councillors could not articulate budget issues. They lack capacity to be real effective policy makers.
Post published in: Analysis