Chronicle Editor
Vincent Gono, News Editor
THE actualisation of the Constitutional provision on devolution by the Second Republic has been lauded as a development game changer for its transformative effect on the country’s rural communities where a number of life-changing projects have been implemented.
In an interview with Sunday News in Bulawayo on Thursday on the sidelines of the local authorities’ annual general meeting, Association of Rural District Councils of Zimbabwe chairman, Dr Golden Shamu paid tribute to the Government for implementing the devolution concept and allocating funds to rural district councils for infrastructural projects.
“On devolution and how it has managed to transform our communities’ lives, I would want to unreservedly give credit to the Second Republic. It is there for everyone to see that we are now miles ahead in terms of infrastructure that speaks to people’s needs. A number of services have been brought close to the communities lifting the burden of the costs of travelling off the people’s shoulders.
“That political will that realises what communities want in order to improve their lives is very important. There were a lot of development gaps in the rural communities. Some areas suffered from perceived marginalisation but they have managed to play development catch up courtesy of Treasury allocations of devolution funds. I would say devolution has been a real game changer in the country’s development discourse especially in the countryside. There has been a lot of infrastructure development that responds to the communities’ demands in a very short space of time.
“There has been a lot of movement in the acquisition of machinery that we would ordinarily hire at a cost of an arm and a leg, purchasing of technological equipment that makes record keeping a lot easier as well as rehabilitation and face-lifting of old and derelict buildings all done with the objective of improving the lives of our people in communities’ across the country,” said Dr Shamu.
He said through devolution funds, rural district councils have managed to accelerate implementation of projects such as schools, clinics, roads, bridges, irrigation schemes and dip-tanks with a number of communities in resettlement areas that used to be far from services given priority.
Dr Shamu said it was now up to different councils to innovate and come up with ways of sustaining themselves other than rate collection. He said councils have always been advised to look around and see what else they can offer to widen their revenue collection streams.
“There are so many sectors that councils can venture into depending on their geographical locations. Some have climatic conditions that favour crop production, some are mining hubs while others are into tourism, the issue is about looking around and realising how they can turn those low hanging fruits into money.”
He said the launch by President Mnangagwa of the blueprint — A call to action, no compromise to service delivery, buttresses his commitment to provision of services to the communities through devolution and other development initiatives as the country strains towards an upper-middle income economy by 2030.
Dr Shamu said it was in light of the need to improve people’s livelihoods that all councils have been given the 30 June deadline to submit masterplans on the overall land use to the Government.
“He said the masterplans were going to guide the Government in settlement planning, enhancing maintenance of natural ecosystems which in turn help in managing and planning for disasters, among other things. On the issue of drought, he said the Government was already delivering food to various districts around the country that were most affected.
“Most of the rural communities are becoming food-insecure while some are already in need of food aid. People were registered and we want to the thank the Government for swiftly responding to the issue. The President has declared that no one is going to die of hunger and already he is walking his talk,” said Dr Shamu.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter