Churches feel devolution has been privatised by the government due to the manner in which it has been implemented, a perception exacerbated by the lack of a statutory law governing its implementation.
The Provincial Councils Administration Amendment Bill which seeks to amend the Provincial Councils and Administration Act and operationalise devolution is still with the Ministry of Local Government.
This issue was raised at a churches’ indaba on devolution hosted by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA) in Bulawayo on Monday, where a Principal Legal Officer in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, and representatives from the Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister’s office were present.
In an interview with CITE following the Indaba, ZCA Chairperson, Dr Ray Motsi, who chaired the meeting, expressed concern that the government appeared to have privatised devolution as it had not enacted a law governing its execution.
“The Principal Legal officer in the Ministry of Justice and representative of the Minister of State explained to us what has happened so far and what money has been set aside, particularly for some of us in Matabeleland and Bulawayo. Well, this is where the problem is,” he said.
“I personally think they have decided to go ahead and implement it their own way, because they have confessed before us that there is no legal statutory, or law upon which they are basing what they are doing. To them that is devolution, according to probably the government or Zanu PF where nobody else is not involved.”
Dr Motsi stated the churches were informed that devolution accounted for five percent of the national budget, which was dispersed to various provinces.
However, he noted, such allocation is not supported by any law or why the government chose to allot five percent.
“This means the government can be sued for having done things without a legal framework and this is part of the problem we are facing. The biggest question nevertheless is this seems to be happening on the side when everybody else has no idea of what is going on,” Dr Motsi said.
He also highlighted that it was “strange to hear that Bulawayo alone may have received more than ZWL$900 million” for devolution yet a majority of people knew nothing about it.
“It is money that has been used, but used where? By who? If some of us do not know about it, what about ordinary people?”
Dr Motsi noted it was worrying that local people who are supposed to decide what should be done within their provinces knew little about how devolution was implemented.
“It is because devolution has been privatised,” he said and questioned who the government was consulting with, implying the Zanu PF led government was consulting within itself rather than the actual people.
“There’s a problem. We strongly believe there is a need for us to lobby, to take a leaf from South Africa and Rwanda. More importantly, we need to come up with a legal framework to guide what should be done because if we want to sue the government right now, how do we sue when there’s no framework,” he said, noting the draft bill, according to the Principal Legal Officer was “sitting in the Ministry of Local government, very much still in its infancy and hasn’t gone anywhere.”
Dr Motsi added: “They have basically privatised devolution and are doing it the way they want rather than something that is generally accepted by everybody.”
ZCA Executive Director Reverend Useni Sibanda concurred that a lack of law has raised concerns about accountability on devolution disbursements.
“How do we hold anyone accountable for that money? That’s very key for us as churches. How do we hold the government accountable,” he asked.
The lack of a framework, according to Sibanda, hampered the participation of disadvantaged groups in provincial development.
“If money is being dispersed, where are the women and young people and who is deciding which projects? I think it’s a big gap. On our part as churches we would like to know so that we can also publicise those projects said to be there,” he said.
“The main issue is to have a law that actually stipulates how disbursements were done? That is key, otherwise if there is no law, our sense is the five percent distribution done by the Minister of finance to the local government ministry is done illegally.”
That gap must be rectified to honour the wishes of Zimbabweans, Sibanda urged.
“A decade later, there’s still no devolution but there is budgeting for the money and distributing it without a law, opening it up to abuse. This is the main risk here,” said the reverend.
