Councils urged to facilitate takeover of resources by locals

In a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of State in his office, Flora Buka, at the official closing of the Zimbabwe Local Government Association Conference in Victoria Falls at the weekend, VP Nkomo said local authorities should take advantage of the impetus created by central Government through the indigenisation and empowerment policy to facilitate the entrance of Zimbabweans into the mainstream economy.

“Local authorities could start by assisting their respective communities to demand their stake under the Government initiated Community Share Ownership Scheme Trust (CSOS/T),” he said.
VP Nkomo said the protracted liberation war that brought about the independence of the country was waged because Zimbabweans were, among other things, denied access to their own resources.

He said foreign companies were exploiting resources such as minerals to develop their own countries and continued to do so even today. Vice- President Nkomo said it was this unjust system which the Government was correcting through programmes such as the Community Share Ownership Scheme.
“Today, we are cognisant of the fact that beyond the cardinal principles of political sovereignty, our people should have an equal opportunity to participate meaningfully in the mainstream economy,” said VP Nkomo.

He said it should be common cause that the primary role of local authorities in any country was to provide basic municipal services to citizens in the locality and to facilitate development in general.
“It is therefore incumbent upon councils to translate and implement central Government policy at local level. In this regard, it is imperative that local Government practitioners design and package interventions that derive from national policies, programmes and projects.

“In other words, local government programmes should be people-centred and be able to address the aspirations of our populace,” he said.
The Vice President added that as planning authorities, local government institutions should plan and implement development programmes      and projects that included the construction             and installation of social and economic infrastructure. This infrastructure, VP Nkomo said, was expected to complement central Government’s efforts of providing quality services to the majority of the people and turning around the economy.

“To this end, the provision of educational and health facilities, roads and road infrastructure such as bridges and factory shells, should be seen as a priority by all local authorities,” he said.
VP Nkomo however said he was aware that most local authorities were still struggling with viability challenges stemming from the hyper-inflationary environment of the past decade but this should not be an excuse for failing to assist the people to take over their resources.

He said once the people took over the means of production, it meant increased revenue for councils.