Chronicle Editor
COUNCILS, mostly dominated by the opposition, have in recent years been characterised by maladministration, corruption and chaos partly because of the calibre of individuals deployed to the local authority.
In Bulawayo for example, the media in 2011 published the councillors’ qualifications and to the shock of readers, most of the councillors had no education while some had Red Cross, cookery and netball coaching qualifications to their name.
The councillors protested the publication of their qualifications and they have not been publicised ever since.
But the cat was already out of the bag as the publication of the councillors’ qualifications helped explain why opposition-dominated councillors have failed ever since they started winning seats in local authorities.
Despite concealing qualifications, the trend of deploying dubious characters to councils never stopped hence the continued chaos in local authorities.
It is against this background that we appreciate developments where the Government is finalising a new law to bar politicians without tertiary education qualifications from running for local authority seats in a development meant to restore competence and improve service delivery.
The Attorney-General (AG)’s office is currently drafting amendments to the Rural Districts Council Act, which seeks, among other things, to fix qualifications for those running for council office, reported our sister paper Sunday News yesterday.
Among other provisions, the amendments will provide regulations for the suspension and removal of councillors from office and procedures for the appointment and operations of independent tribunals.
In addition, the amendment Bill will also set guidelines for the incorporation of junior councillors into development programmes under the local authorities.
Cabinet adopted principles to the Bill in March last year.
Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo said: “We sent the principles to the AG’s office and once a draft Bill is completed, it will be sent to Cabinet.
“In terms of councillors’ qualifications, the main aim is to ensure that councillors have minimum qualifications, for example, having a tertiary education qualification.
“So, once the draft Bill is done, it will spell out exactly what the minimum qualification will be.
“We have counterparts who think the process of selecting a councillor is a popularity contest.
“However, we view it is a governance issue, one which affects a lot of issues — ranging from the provision of sanitation, creating an attractive business environment to attracting international investment.
“So, we believe that individuals running a city, town or even a rural district must be capable and have requisite skills and knowledge.”
Minister Moyo said the new regulations will, however, not be ready for the harmonised elections, scheduled for later this year.
“Given the limited time that we have before the harmonised elections, I cannot guarantee that these provisions will be used during this year’s elections,” he added.
“We want to appeal to political parties, as we go into the elections, and say these councils are critical institutions and some of them have budgets that are bigger than those appropriated to ministries.
“Running these councils is like running a ‘country’, therefore, they need to be run by people of higher intellectual calibre than what we have now.”
He said Harare was an example of how unqualified councillors can easily run down a metropolis.
“We have been witnessing some businesses relocating from Harare’s central business district (CBD) because of the prevalence of illegal activities in the CBD.
“This is actually breaking down the CBD, which will be costly to revive.”
Presently, statutes governing the election of councillors do not fix education qualifications for aspiring office holders.
Online Reporter