The Sunday Mail
Dr Munyaradzi Kereke
GROSS incompetence in urban councils has now reached unacceptable levels in a democratic society governed by the rule of law.
Urbanites, along with the rest of Zimbabweans, have the right to life as is guaranteed by Section 48 of the Constitution, yet many precious lives are being lost to outbreaks of diseases on the back of what is notably gross incompetence of urban councils.
The Constitution, under Section 73, also guarantees that Zimbabweans fully enjoy the right to a clean environment, one that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing, and to also have an environment that is protected for the benefit of present and future generations.
The persistent outbreaks of cholera on the back of perpetual overflows of raw sewage in most residential areas demonstrate the gross incompetence of urban councils in Zimbabwe.
Outbreaks of malaria, road accidents caused by bad urban roads, robberies and murders perpetrated under darkness due to lack of street lights, and losses of lives due to fire blazes caused by overcrowding and misuse of city buildings are also hazards bearing down on our society as a result of the gross incompetence of urban councils. Almost across all urban areas in Zimbabwe, the tragedy of piles of smelly uncollected garbage, and the swelling up of pools of industrial and domestic effluent are vivid testimonies of the lawlessness that characterises these local authorities.
Yet they hope to remain in charge and unaccountable.
Disciplinary action against councils and the law Zimbabwe’s Constitution provides for the removal from office of mayors, chairpersons and councillors on grounds of gross incompetence.
Section 278 (2)(b) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that “An Act of Parliament must provide for the establishment of an independent tribunal to exercise the function of removing from office mayors, chairpersons and councillors, but such removal must only be on the grounds of (2)(b) gross incompetence”.
For purposes of abiding by the letter and spirit of the Constitution, it is strongly recommended that our Parliament fast-tracks an Act that provides for the setting up of a tribunal for the removal from office of those mayors, chairpersons and councillors who are grossly incompetent in discharging their statutory roles.
In the meantime, whist Parliament is putting in place the legislative framework for this disciplinary instrument for councils, Government’s Executive arm has the power to cause creation of the independent tribunal through deployment of the Presidential Powers to make laws under statutory instruments.
Parliament would then do the needful processes of ratifying the law on a permanent basis.
With people dying every day due to the gross incompetence of urban councils, remedial measures have to be taken without further delays.
Provisions of the Urban Councils Act, Chapter 29:15
Existing laws also provide for disciplinary measures against errant and grossly incompetent councillors.
Section 114(1)(b) of the Urban Councils Act, Chapter 29:15, also provides that the Minister for Local Government (and Public Works) can also dismiss mayors and councillors for gross incompetence. This is, however, overshadowed by the constitutional provision that requires an independent tribunal to be the one to dismiss underperforming councillors.
Anatomy of urban councils’ gross incompetenceBy virtue of the scope of works conferred on urban councils under the Urban Councils Act, it is easy to measure the extent to which our urban councils are delivering on their statutory mandate.
Specifically, the urban councils are bound by law to provide several services to ratepayers and the nation in general.
These include collection of garbage, management and treatment of raw sewage, provision of street lighting, water reticulation and sanitation, ensuring safety standards in all construction works (be it residential or commercial), and providing fumigation services to prevent and exterminate noxious insects and vermin. Urban councils are also mandated to maintain urban roads to the highest safety standards, as well as taking preventative measures against fire outbreaks in the built environment. Councils also ought to provide safe and well-maintained parks and recreational facilities, providing community halls, regulating and licensing of crèches, as well as providing well-managed cemeteries, among several other things.
Zimbabwe’s major urban councils have dismally failed to deliver on their statutory mandates. They have fervently focused on activities that bring forth to councillors direct personal benefits, be it through self-carved extractive rent-seeking allowances or contracts nesting corrupt kick-backs.
Mountains of uncollected garbage are piling up. Urban public pavements and streets are not being swept clean.
Raw sewage streams are meandering across homesteads in most residential areas. Functional street lights are a rare sight.
Illegal settlements are allowed to mushroom without end in areas that have no running water, no sewage management systems and without electricity.
Wetlands are being illegally parcelled out to desperate home-seekers through corrupt deals with councillors.
Unlicensed agents are allowed to carry out electrical works in city buildings, leading to fires that are destroying lives and property.
Urban roads have become death-traps to the public due to gullies and potholes.
For example, 75 percent of the City of Bulawayo’s road network is in a terrible state due to perennial neglect, and the local authority now requires at least US$700 million to fix the mess.
The vast majority of residential areas do not have running and safe drinking water.
Where councils purport to engage in income-generating projects, these have generally morphed into looting platforms, with no tangible positive impact on those councils’ financial positions.
Instead of being beacons of a positive image for Zimbabwe, urban councils have become the poisoned cogs creating eyesores to citizens and visitors who come to Zimbabwe.
Year in, year out, the urban councils continue to destabilise the country’s macroeconomic environment through delinquencies on loan repayments and failure to pay for services they get from statutory bodies and the private sector.
For example, the City of Harare is struggling to repay China Eximbank a US$77 million loan that funded renovations of the Morton Jaffray Water Works.
This is poisoning the lender-borrower climate for future transactions.
State-owned enterprises such as the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) and its sister companies, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), TelOne and NetOne are owed billions in unpaid bills by the City of Harare.
The burden of the City of Harare’s perennial debts to local creditors has largely been borne by ZESA (36 percent), other statutory bodies (18 percent) and trade creditors (25 percent).
These creditors continue to bear the brunt of councillors’ gross incompetence on revenue collection, with devastating knock-on effects on the general welfare of Zimbabwe’s macroeconomic environment.
Revenue collection
On the revenue collection side, performance by urban councils has remained acutely poor.
For example, over the last year, the City of Harare has registered a dismal revenue collection efficiency of around 55 percent.
This means around 45 percent of revenues are leaking or going uncollected.
With respect to the City of Bulawayo, the gross incompetence of councillors is also staggering.
In February 2022, Government approved Bulawayo’s budget of $23,8 billion, with a revenue collection target of $15,9 billion at that time.
Demonstrating unparalleled dereliction of duty by Bulawayo councillors in terms of revenue collection, as at November 30 last year, total uncollected revenues due to the City of Bulawayo stood at a whopping $31,4 billion, or 132 percent of the total approved 2022 budget.
The undeniable corollary of this gross incompetence is poor service delivery and retardation of Zimbabwe’s overall macroeconomic programmes.
Immature politics and management
What is clear from Zimbabwe’s experiences over the past 20 years is that the conundrum of shallow and childish political agendas in urban councils have polluted efficiency and effectiveness in the running of the country’s municipalities to the detriment of the public.
Opposition political parties have largely dominated the running of urban councils, but this has been done with an entrenched retrogressive psyche and a pervasive spirit of obtuse activism opposed even to the noblest of central Government’s developmental programmes under Vision 2030.
This has decoupled urban councils from the mainstream veins and arteries of Zimbabwe’s productive activities and progressive policies, effectively constraining efficiencies in at least 85 percent of Zimbabwe’s manufacturing and service sectors that are hosted by the country’s urban councils.
Executive and legislative interventions
The gross incompetence of urban councils cannot continue to go unchecked.
It is strongly recommended that both the Executive and Legislature spring into action to put a stop to the ongoing free fall in urban councils.
First, the Executive can set the temporary legal framework for the creation of an independent tribunal that will oversee the constitutional processes of removing grossly incompetent councillors and councils from office so as to pave the way for more efficient mechanisms that are in sync with the letter and spirit of Vision 2030.
This can be done lawfully through the introduction of a requisite statutory instrument.
Parliament would then work swiftly to put in place a more permanent legal instrument that would provide for firm central Government oversight on urban councils, as well as the attendant disciplinary mechanisms, as contemplated by Section 278 (2) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The country also needs to put in place effective statutory provisions to provide for general environmental protection and cleanliness in Zimbabwe’s built ecosystem, with stiff, credible and effective penalties to litterbugs.
There is need for development of explicit, quantifiable criteria for measuring the performance of urban councils on a monthly basis, quarterly and annually, with active participation of ratepayers and statutory bodies providing services to municipalities.
Government would then carry out routine inspections and evaluate the extent to which urban councils deliver on their mandates.
Where gross incompetence is noted, the requisite quid pro quo penalties ought to be exacted without fear or favour in the public interest.
In carrying out these processes, Government should be alive to potential rabble-rousers who would want to undermine and delay these legislative processes meant to promote public interests.
Sufficient powers for the Minister of Local Government and Public Works ought to be provided for to enable robust ministerial directives to councils when they veer off their core mandates.
These should be crafted with consistency to provisions of the Constitution and the need for a firm hand in ensuring that councils are kept in check at all times in the public interest.
Centralised water treatment chemicals hub
Because of the frequency of purchases of water treatment chemicals and the large sums of money involved, urban councils have roundly failed to properly manage the deliverable of providing sustainable clean water to residents.
It is recommended that Government introduces a centralised water treatment chemicals hub with a branch network dotted around the country’s urban areas.
This centralised hub will be charged with coordinating the procurement of water treatment chemicals from both local and foreign suppliers, as well as evolve into developing capacity to manufacture the chemicals in-house, supported by the innovation hubs at our universities.
Urban councils would then take deliveries of their water treatment chemicals from the centralised hub against agreed payment terms.
This arrangement would benefit urban councils and residents through economies of scale and reliable water supply.
Zimbabwe cannot afford to continue losing lives on the back of the gross incompetence of urban councils.
Lasting remedial measures need to be taken without any further delay.
* Dr Munyaradzi Kereke is the founding chairperson of the Justice Foundation. Feedback: +263 715 618 123; email: [email protected]
