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Tendai Mugabe in MUTARE
Manicaland is ready to implement the concept of devolution and has lined up various mega projects to developthe provincial economy in line with President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030.

This comes at a time when Cabinet has approved the principles of the Provincial Councils and Administration (Amendment) Bill which spells out the mechanisms of decentralisation and devolution.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube yesterday allocated US$310 million in fiscal transfers earmarked for support to Provincial Councils for 2019, that would spearhead devolution.

Speaking to The Herald yesterday as part of assessment of readiness by provinces to implement devolution, Manicaland Provincial Minister of State Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba said all was in place to implement the concept in her province.

She said her province had all it takes to become an economic hub.

“Manicaland is more than ready and has always been ready for the devolution,” said Dr Gwaradzimba. “I think the idea of devolution is not a new thing at all. Ever since we started the constitution making process, it was one of the topical issues under discussion.

“It was one of the wishes of the people not just of Manicaland, but in Zimbabwe as a whole that decentralisation of power and authority from central Government to the provinces will produce efficiency and effectiveness in terms of both economic, political and social growth.

“We have already established sectoral clusters where we are saying the experts in agriculture they group together and come up with a development agenda in that area, the experts in forestry, experts in tourism, mining, education, social welfare and land come together and come up with a development agenda for Manicaland.

“We have all what it takes to be a great province. The elections of provincial councillors has already been done. They are in place. What we have been waiting for is the blueprint or the framework that guides the operations of the provincial council.

“We are more than ready. Now that Parliament has approved the operation of the provincial councils it means we are ready to start work in earnest.”

Dr Gwaradzimba said they were courting both local and foreign investors to come and exploit various business opportunities in the province.

With regards to specific projects they were implementing in line with devolution, Dr Gwaradzimba said: “Manicaland is in the process of setting up a gemmology centre here. We are going to be doing the polishing and value addition to our diamonds and other special minerals.

“Soon, we are going to do a ground-breaking ceremony in Fern Valley near the Manicaland State University. The funds have been made available and the space is already there to establish that centre. It is going to be like a university of operations and it is not going to be limited to diamonds, but to all minerals that are of value to Manicaland.

“In the area of ICT and trade, we are busy at the moment preparing for the Smart City Summit which is a concept established worldwide where we are going to be talking about development using smart technology. The smart city summit is the first of its kind in Zimbabwe and we have invited President Mnangagwa to be the key speaker among other high-profile speakers that we have invited.”

She said the summit is scheduled for Friday next week.

Among other things, Dr Gwaradzimba said they needed support from Central Government to provide office space for the provincial councils and training of people on their specific duties in a devolved structure.

See full interview in tomorrow’s issue of The Saturday Herald.