Provincial and metropolitan councils to be established soon

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Acting Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said provincial and metropolitan councils will be established once the institutional framework for their operations have been put in place.

Acting Minister Chinamasa said this during the question and answer session in the National Assembly yesterday.

"There is no institutional framework, so the first thing that needs to be done is to provide that institutional framework and the relevant ministry will then set up the secretariat. These are new structures and they need time to set the secretariat and how they will interact with other organs of local government," he said.

Minister Chinamasa said they would only set up the councils in terms of provisions of the Constitution and ruled out any devolution of power.

"We will set up the structures that are in the constitution and we will give them powers as set out in the new constitution. We will comply with the letter and spirit of the Constitution and we will set up structures with powers provided in the Constitution," he said.

The provincial and metropolitan councils are a creation of the new Constitution. They will be made up of all elected legislators in the each province from the National Assembly, members of the Senate, the two senator chiefs elected and 10 persons elected by a system of proportional representation.

A chairperson and his or her deputy will also be elected from the members.

The metropolitan councils for Harare and Bulawayo will comprise all legislators from the National Assembly and members of the Senate, the mayors and deputy mayors and the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of all local authorities in the metropolitan province concerned.

They will be chaired by the mayors of the respective cities. The Bill setting the guidelines is expected to be brought to Parliament soon.