Zanu PF's grip strangles city autonomy

SINCE the adoption of the 2013 Constitution, most Zimbabweans in urban areas hoped that finally they would have the desired autonomy to run affairs of their cities and towns without central government interference.

They were wrong.

Zanu PF wants to control everything.

Zanu PF has always wanted to control everything centrally. It did not want any department or local authority to be outside its control. This was made much easier by its landslide win in 1980. It controlled all local authorities and was in charge of the central government in the 1980 Government of National Unity (GNU).

However, by the late 1990s, Zanu PF wanted to reward its senior and trusted members with power. It amended the Urban Councils Act to create the office of executive mayor. This was meant to tie in with the privatisation agenda that was being implemented at the time at the behest of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Zanu PF had seen the opportunity to strip public assets and needed these processes to be as swift as possible, hence needed executive mayors. The executive mayors were now the accounting officers in urban local authorities. The buck stopped with them.

Zanu PF had not anticipated a strong opposition to spoil their plans. The opposition MDC formally launched in 1999 upset the Zanu PF plans by winning all urban areas, including the big four cities of Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and Gweru.

Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri did not make issues any better with Zanu PF or internally in MDC when he stated that he was the second most powerful elected official after President Robert Mugabe.

Zanu PF tried to circumvent the mayors by indirectly restoring power to town clerks, but the horses had bolted. Within a short eight-years' experience, the office of executive mayor was abolished and so was the concept of autonomy of the local authorities.

All senior local authorities' executives were recruited with the concurrence of the Local Government Board (LGB). The LGB is a shadowy board appointed by the Local Government minister to approve persons to be appointed after interviews.

This week, Local Government secretary John Basera issued circulars giving the ministry effective recruitment control at local authorities. The new directives require councils to seek ministerial approval for draft job advertisements, submit applicant lists for joint background checks before shortlisting candidates and to allow the ministry, through Department of Local Authorities and Inspectorate, to actively participate in all interview processes until final selections are made.

Basera said: "The national vision 2030 can only be achieved when the right people are in the right positions to drive processes aimed at improving service delivery and the livelihoods of their communities. To this end, it is imperative that we strive to ensure compliance with procedures and guidelines on selection and recruitment as outlined in ministerial circulars currently in force."

The new circular effectively closes the small window of autonomy that Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni then tried to use to appoint respected banker John Mushore to be the city's town clerk. The action did have consequences, Manyenyeni spent a few nights as a guest of the State for such attempts at good governance.

Zanu PF has always been scared of a powerful opposition executive mayor in the capital, when it has been relegated to a rural party. It feels it cannot share power and that leadership capacity is locked entirely within Zanu PF structures.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's hand is all over this. It is a public secret that Vision 2030 is a Mnangagwa project. Many senior Zanu PF officials have tried to tie the project to Mnangagwa's term of office, hence the fight to have the President's term of office extended by two years.

In defending the circular, Basera said as much. He boldly stated the circular was to ensure that Vision 2030 is accomplished. This borders on Trumpism. The United States leader Donald Trump has always wanted to rework the canvas and tapestry of leadership to have his imprint.

Like Trump, Mnangagwa has changed the Judiciary for a generation by his more than 60 appointments of judges. He has appointed permanent secretaries who have not shied away from making bold decisions such as outsourcing government functions.

Why would Zanu PF want to have such a grip on recruitment in local authorities now? There have been some silent changes in local authorities over the years. The old executives who came into office in the late 1990s are now about to leave office through retirement in many cities. Zanu PF wants to protect its turf, a turf it has enjoyed since independence.

Secondly, over the past five years it has been noticed that local authorities have been outsourcing some of their functions to private players. We have noticed privatisation of water, refuse collection and road maintenance. It is a public secret who controls the companies that have been awarded the tenders.

The outsourcing of these functions is not going to stop. Zanu PF is continuing on its privatisation agenda, plan  to create companies that will support the party financially during elections. They cannot miss that and want to control it.

We need more activism — political, social and even legal — to deal with this scourge. Allowing centralisation of power is against Chapter 14 of the Constitution which preaches devolution. Zimbabweans should stop the mutilation of the Constitution through circulars.

It remains to be seen how opposition political parties will fight to protect their own zones or how residents associations will seek to protect the rights of their councils on recruitment. The character of council executive is the final bulwark against central government's interference or capitulation.