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Lovemore Chikova Development Dialogue

The devolution development model was accelerated in 2021 at different levels of governance, especially at the district and ward levels — the lowest tiers of the governance matrix ladder.

Devolution is provided for in the Constitution as one of the key pillars of development under the New Dispensation, resulting in various activities being carried out to advance the concept this year.

Everyone who cares about devolution should by now be moving on the same page with the Government on the fact that the development concept does not make Zimbabwe a federal State.

The country will maintain its unitary State system, where, apart from the central Government, the other levels of governance are either the local or municipal level whose powers are not accorded constitutional status.

In this system, the central Government makes a decision on which powers to devolve to the lower levels, and in the case of Zimbabwe, Government is giving local councils and provinces the mandate to make decisions on socio-economic issues.

The preamble for the Constitution’s chapter 14 states that there will be devolution of power and responsibilities to lower tiers of government, but taking into cognizant desirability for “the preservation of national unity in Zimbabwe and the prevention of all forms of disunity and secessionism”.

What this means is that there should be constant interaction among the central Government, provincial structures and local government structures because the powers being devolved will still be superintendent by central Government.

That is exactly what happened in 2021, with a lot of movement being witnessed at different levels in various sectors in the implementation of the devolution concept.

Provincial Permanent Secretaries

The recently appointed 10 Provincial Development Coordinators (PDCs) were this year elevated to the new position of Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution.

The new position is expected to allow them the leeway to undertake the enhanced role they are set to play in implementing the devolution policy, which has come with added responsibilities on them.

While announcing the promotion, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda said: “The Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet is pleased to announce that His Excellency the President, in view of the enhanced and critical role of the Provincial Development Coordinators in the planning and implementation of provincial and devolution programmes, has approved the elevation of the 10 PDCs across all provinces in Zimbabwe to the rank of Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, in the Office of the President and Cabinet under the Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution.”

The promoted officers are: Mr Tafadzwa Muguti — Harare Metropolitan Province, Mr Paul Nyoni — Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Mr Abiot Marongwe — Midlands Province, Mr Timothy Maerege — Mashonaland Central, Josphat Jaji — Mashonaland West Province, Dr Jefter Sakupwanya — Masvingo Province, Ms Sithandiwe Ncube — Matabeleland North and Ms Latiso Dhlamini — Matabeleland South.

They will work closely with Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution to push forward the development agenda for the provinces.

Devolution laws

While delivering his State of the Nation Address and officially opening the Fourth Session of the Ninth Parliament of Zimbabwe in October, President Mnangagwa announced some laws to perfect the implementation of the devolution agenda.

The laws are the Provincial Councils Amendment Bill, Urban Councils Amendment Bill, Rural District Councils Amendment Bill, Regional Town and Country Planning Amendment Bill and Traditional Leaders Amendment Bill.

The President said: “Allow me to highlight that Parliament will soon be requested to consider legislation to the implementation of the devolution agenda. Of special note is the presentation of the Provincial Councils Amendment Bill.

“The requisite legislation used by the lower tiers of the State to ensure efficient implementation of the devolution agenda will also be amended. These include the Urban Councils Amendment Bill, Rural District Councils Amendment Bill, Regional Town and Country Planning Amendment Bill and the Traditional Leaders Amendment Bill.”

The legislation comes in the wake of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.2) Act which sets out the setting up of the metropolitan and provincial councils to push the devolution agenda forward.

The attendant legislation mentioned by President Mnangagwa will ensure that the processes around the implementation of devolution are aligned to the provisions of the constitution.

For devolution, there is need to incorporate the relevant structures and spell out the roles they will play clearly.

Hence the new laws will concern stakeholders in urban councils, rural district councils and regional town and country planning and traditional leaders.

Districts’ GDP

One of the important aspects of Zimbabwe’s devolution model is the accounting for each district and province’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure how each of them is contributing to national economic growth.

The provinces and districts are urged to identify areas within their jurisdiction that can contribute to their GDP and ensure there are ways to implement successful projects within these areas.

The provinces and districts are encouraged to compete among themselves in terms of the GDP, which is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within an area.

In advancing the concept of localised GDP, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said in March that he had started mapping the country’s GDP per district and the exercise was expected to be complete by year end.

As part of the devolution agenda, the Government needs to know the economic value of each district as this will help in projecting national economic growth.

“By December, I would have produced a document outlining the GDP district by district,” said Prof Ncube.

“So, Umguza District, I will give you your GDP, Lupane the same thing. We are doing this so that we understand the nature and extent of our economy at local levels.

“This will inform us of the projects that we should undertake for us to grow our economy. We have a GDP at national level, at provincial level and at district level. “And it’s the first time we are going to be doing that we have never done before and I don’t know of any country in Africa that is doing what I’m doing. We would be the first.”

Devolution projects

Provinces and districts successfully implemented projects beneficial to the people under devolution in 2021 after receiving their share of the $19,5 billion budgeted for the implementation of the development concept this year.

More projects are expected to be carried out under devolution next year after Prof Ncube allocated $42 billion in the 2022 National Budget towards the implementation of such projects.

For this year, life-changing projects that permeated all facets of life were successfully carried out at district level as part of the devolution revolution.

This is in line with President Mnangagwa’s thrust to initiate development that leaves no one behind, and that also reaches every corner of the country.

The projects included building of new clinics and schools and rehabilitation of the existing ones, upgrading of roads, construction of bridges and water bodies and establishment of irrigation schemes.

The projects were mainly concentrated in the crucial sectors of health, education, water and sanitation and road infrastructure.

The projects were being implemented in line with the National Development Strategy 1 and as part of attaining Vision 2030 of achieving an upper middle income economy.

In this respect, the Constitution compels Government to direct funds from the national budget towards enhancing devolution and these are the funds being already used in provinces and districts.

For now, Government is availing funds to all areas, but in future, provincial structures with be required to raise their own funds for development, while central Government will only intervene in critical areas.

This places a huge responsibility on those responsible for leading development trajectories within their jurisdiction, as they will be called upon to be innovative and come up with projects that can enhance the areas’ GDP.

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