Provincial councillors will remain unable to take up their constitutional roles until Parliament passes enabling legislation, with the government saying it expects the law to be finalised during the next quarter after identifying shortcomings in an earlier draft.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi gave the update in the National Assembly while responding to questions about the continued delay in operationalising provincial councils despite the enactment of the Constitution of Zimbabwe (Amendment) (No. 3) Act.
Perseverance Zhou asked when elected provincial councillors would finally begin carrying out their constitutional responsibilities.
“My question is then directed to the Minister of Local Government and Public Works. What are the plans for the provincial councillors to commence their duties?” Zhou asked.
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Responding on behalf of the government, Ziyambi said the legislation had been withdrawn for further refinement after legal gaps were identified.
“These plans have been set aside by legislation which we want to polish and bring to Parliament. We wanted to bring the Bill to Parliament here but we discovered some loopholes. The Bill is now with the experts to whom we gave the explanations of what we want. After that, the Bill will then be brought to Parliament. Once we have that legislation, the provincial councillors will resume their duties,” he said.
Zhou pressed the minister for a timeline, arguing that provincial councillors had waited too long to assume office.
“The time for provincial councillors to resume their duties is long overdue. We were thinking that we would then reach 2030 with them having started doing their duties, following our President’s mantra of leaving no one and no place behind. The issue to be resolved is now taking time. I am requesting that you give us a timeline for that Bill to be finalised,” she said.
Ziyambi said the government preferred to delay the legislation rather than introduce a flawed law.
“According to our observation, we realised that it is better for us to make legislation that is effective rather than to come up with something that will give us headaches in the future. The Bill was then taken back and it is our wish that in the next quarter, all the papers would have been finalised.”
He said development projects were continuing despite the absence of functioning provincial councils because funding was still being channelled to local authorities.
“We are not worried about being in a rush or in a hurry but we want to have a clear legislation which will allow them to operate. Right now, the Minister of Local Government and the Minister of Finance are disbursing funds to all the districts so that the development will continue. There is no district which is being left behind. What we want to consider is that we must make sure that this legislation will help us, not only having a person working but doing their work properly,” Ziyambi said.
Opposition MP Lynette Karenyi questioned why provincial councillors had twice been elected but had never been allowed to perform their constitutional duties.
“This shows that as a government, we are not yet in a position to make this happen. According to my knowledge, in the 9th Parliament, these people were voted for as provincial councillors. Their term lapsed. This time they were also voted for and their term is about to end. If it means that Government is failing, why should they not say it clearly so that people will not waste their time campaigning because the campaigns need a lot of money?” she said.
Karenyi also asked what support would be provided to councillors who had left previous jobs after being elected.
“How many years are needed because now we are close to 10 years and these people are not yet doing their duties? What are they going to be given as their monthly benefits from their provinces? Some of them were even fired from their workplaces and some brought their CVs and they resigned from where they were. What is going to be done to them because they lost their former employment?” she asked.
Ziyambi said the Bill would only be brought before Parliament once it had undergone thorough legal scrutiny.
“The work of coming up with legislation is being done. After being finalised, we are going to give you the Bill so that it will be gazetted and brought into Parliament for debate. What we did not do was to quickly rush and produce things which are not well polished in terms of the councils. After that is finalized, we are going to bring the Bill before this Parliament.”
He said legal drafters had requested more time to strengthen the Bill and ensure it was suited to Zimbabwe’s governance framework.
“We also realised that we cannot rush the people who draft the law when they had requested for more time to look deeper into the Bill so that they will produce a refined version. The problem is that in Zimbabwe when we made our Constitution, there are quite a number of things which were copied and put together which we also now want to revisit and compare with other countries to see how they are doing it, comparing to our state as a nation,” Ziyambi said.
Corban Madzivanyika suggested the government consider temporary measures to allow provincial councils to begin operating while Parliament considered the legislation.
“Is it not possible that for now, whilst we are waiting for the legislation that we put other plans in place to enable them to continue working. This will help us in different provinces just as the Constitution rightfully says,” he asked.
Ziyambi rejected the proposal, saying there was no legal alternative to passing the enabling legislation.
“For us to come up with quick legislation, it means that there will be a gap that we will be creating and that cannot be resolved without proper legislation. That is why I said if they realise that there is a huge problem, they can then approach the Minister. The Minister will come to us for way forward and we will assist,” he said.
Provincial councils are provided for under Chapter 14 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution as devolved governance structures intended to coordinate development planning and decentralise decision-making. Although provincial councillors have been elected in successive harmonised elections since the adoption of the 2013 Constitution, they have never assumed office because Parliament has yet to pass legislation defining their powers, functions and operating framework.
If enacted in the next quarter, the proposed law would mark the first substantive step towards implementing one of the Constitution’s key devolution provisions, almost a decade after provincial councils were first elected.
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