ZIMBABWE: Unity Govt - Guarded Optimism At Local Level

• by Ignatius Banda (bulawayo)
• Tuesday, February 10, 2009
• Inter Press Service

All of Zimbabwe's major cities are controlled by the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC. Urban areas have been plagued by poor service delivery amid complaints by the municipal managers that, as part of efforts to discredit the country's main political opposition, the ruling ZANU-PF was deliberately frustrating efforts to effectively provide essential services to ratepayers.

Central government for years blocked plans by the councils to increase utility rates as part of efforts to improve service delivery. This has seen the deterioration of services, with refuse piling up, potholes littering the roads, and sewage flowing into homes from burst mains as council lacked resources to maintain infrastructure.

Both the capital, Harare, and the country's second city, Bulawayo, have been hit by wildcat strikes as council employees press for salaries in foreign currency.

However, in January, as part of ZANU-PF's concessions under the power sharing agreement, government handed back control of water and sewer reticulation, reversing a 2006 decision to transfer authority over them to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) having accused the MDC-led councils of incompetence.

Not expecting miracles

Councillors in Bulawayo have met the return of public water works to the city council - and the power-sharing deal itself - with guarded optimism.

'The damage done over the years by wresting control from us will hard to reverse,' said Councillor Reuben Matengu. 'We will still need to raise tariffs but as we know this will have to be in foreign currency to which many residents have no access.'

Bulawayo was once celebrated for its wide roads and clean streets but these have been replaced by crater-sized potholes and heaps of refuse piled up right in the central business district, creating an eyesore city officials say has chased away tourists.

'We are faced with innumerable challenges, but we hope our fortunes will change with the formation of a new government,' said Thaba Moyo, the city mayor. 'This should afford us a chance to get adequate funds for our operations as our hands have been tied by government for too long,' Moyo said.

While it is not yet known which party will be allocated the local government ministry which is in change of municipalities, one of the focuses on the new unity government will be to rebuild confidence in the councils where years of poor funding have seen skills flight and deterioration of infrastructure.

'What the unity government needs is to have an MDC-Tsvangirai minister to be in charge of the municipalities,' said Jacob Mwale of the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BUPRA), which represents resident grievances.

'We have watched the city go to the dogs under the interference of ZANU-PF but this (unity government) must be given a chance to right all the wrongs that multiplied over the years,' Mwale told IPS.

With a population of more than two million, Bulawayo has long complained of being marginalised by the ZANU-PF government. Many here expect that the coming into government of the MDC will bolster efforts to stem deaths due to the cholera epidemic.

But spokesman Nelson Chamisa told the media on Jan. 2 that if they joined government, they would still lack capacity to deal with the ever increasing humanitarian crisis.

The MDC would not have 'have any real power' to help address the humanitarian crisis created by the cholera epidemic, Chamisa said. 'We want to be able to provide a real change in governance and not become part of a symbolic act,' he added.

In Harare, Budiriro MDC-T legislator Heneri Dzinotyiwei welcomed the handing back of water works to local councils, adding this could offer a chance for the new government to fight cholera which the World Health Organisation says has killed over 3,300 while up to 67,000 cases have been reported countrywide since August 2008.

'There are a lot of challenges ahead and the burden will be placed on the MDC-T which is expected to deliver in a short space of time,' said Simon Gama a political analyst and activist championing the autonomy of Matebeleland - under which Bulawayo lies - from central government.

'We have for years called for federalism where Matebeleland would look after its own affairs but this has been ignored. The result is there for all to see: the problems our city council is facing,' Gama told IPS.

'Even if the MDC-T is to run local government, these problems are not likely to disappear as long as donor nations do not unlock their funds to rebuild this country,' Gama. 'If the GNU does not work, we can expect the municipalities to fail with it.'

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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