Online Reporter
Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
THE Government has moved to localise the measurement of Gross Domestic Product at provincial level as it intensifies the implementation of the devolution policy, ensuring that no one and no place is left behind in the journey towards Vision 2030.
This emerged during a high‑level public lecture held at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) in Harare yesterday, titled; “Operationalising Devolution for Vision 2030”, where senior Government officials, international partners and academics converged to discuss the practical execution of the policy.
Addressing the lecture, the Permanent Secretary for Presidential Affairs and Devolution in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Engineer Tafadzwa Muguti, said the Second Republic was shifting from a top‑down approach to a bottom‑up model that empowers grassroots structures.
“Gone are the days when we only look at the national GDP. We now want to know what each province is producing, how many people each province is employing, and how many lives each province has transformed,” Eng Muguti said.
He also revealed that Government is revitalising Village Development Committees (VIDCOs) and Ward Development Committees (WADCOs) to ensure that the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2) reflects the economic realities and potential of every community.
“Every person, right from the village, has a role to play in the economy of the province. We are simply saying that no place and no one should be left behind,” he said, adding that the goal is a “reconfigured State” as envisioned by President Mnangagwa.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Zimbabwe Country Representative, Dr Ayodele Odusola, speaking on the sidelines of the event, pledged the organisation’s support in auditing provincial assets to unlock their economic value.
“We cannot get the national GDP without first determining the provincial GDP. UNDP is willing and has already started working with the Government of Zimbabwe to ensure that we document the real assets that each province has,” Dr Odusola said.
University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo described the public lecture as a landmark initiative that bridges the gap between constitutional provisions and practical implementation.
“In the past, while this was written in statutes and the Constitution, this is the first practical way of taking it to the people,” Prof Mapfumo said.
He also stressed that the university has a responsibility to ensure a convergence of views between academics and the public to drive national development.
“The concept of devolution is meant to empower people. The strategy through NDS1 and NDS2 is laid out, but the practicality of implementation comes from the participation of everyone,” he said.
Devolution is enshrined in Chapter 14 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which seeks to decentralise power and resources to provincial and local tiers of Government in order to promote fair and equitable development.
