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Tendai Mugabe Harare Bureau
PROVINCIAL Ministers of State appointed by President Mugabe last year say they are being rendered irrelevant as some senior civil servants are bypassing them and reporting directly to their line ministers on issues affecting provinces. This came out at a meeting convened by the Senior Minister of State in the President’s Office and Cabinet Cde Simon Khaya Moyo in Harare yesterday to discuss issues relating to land reform and resettlement.
The meeting was attended by Provincial Ministers of State, Zanu-PF provincial chairpersons and Ministers of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development (Dr Joseph Made), Local Government, Public Works and National Housing (Dr Ignatius Chombo), Information, Communication and Technology (Cde Webster Shamu) and Sport, Arts and Culture (Cde Andrew Langa).
Manicaland Provincial Minister of State, Cde Chris Mushowe, who spoke on behalf of his counterparts, said they would soon request for a meeting with Cde Khaya to discuss issues affecting them.
“The key issue is that we need to discover our relevance in the provinces,” he said.
“We need to know precisely whether we can match our deeds to the job specifications, which is not the case now.
“As an example, civil servants or heads of departments in the provinces would send provincial matters to their line ministries without even telling them Provincial Ministers and my nephew Dr (Joseph) Made here has just said it here unconsciously.”
Earlier on, Dr Made had indicated that he did not tolerate corruption among civil servants and anyone with tangible evidence of malpractice relating to officers under his ministry should approach him directly.
In this regard, Cde Mushowe responded saying: “I think it’s something that needs to be looked at and corrected because government officials don’t listen to you when you say this.
“Our major concern as Ministers of State in the provinces is that we’re not so sure whether what we’re given as our job specification is exactly what we should do because most of what we’re given as our job specification is not respected by anybody and no one seems to take the matter seriously.
“We were given to understand that we represent the Head of State and that we’re supposed to superintend over civil servants in the provinces. Yes we know there’re line ministers but provincial matters should be given to us so that we know what is going on.”
As the President’s representatives, Minister Mushowe said, they were expected to submit detailed reports to the President on happenings in their provinces monthly.
Cde Khaya Moyo, who chaired the meeting, said the issue needed to be addressed urgently.
“We’ve heard a number of things happening,” he said.
“You couldn’t have put it better than to say you must rediscover your relevance and it’s important that it is done yesterday.
“I will report this matter to the President and it will also give some useful material as we prepare for our Congress as well.
“We must all be relevant. There’s no way we can pretend we’re relevant when other people don’t recognise us.”
Turning to resettlement, Cde Khaya Moyo said the programme was characterised by inefficiencies and deficiencies that needed to be addressed.
He said such challenges required team work by all relevant ministries.
Zanu-PF Mashonaland West Provincial chairman Cde Temba Mliswa, who spoke on behalf of other party chairmen, said it was important to ensure that the party was represented at district level on land issues.
He said the government and the party should deal decisively with the issue of illegal settlers that were sprouting everywhere.
Cde Mliswa also asked on the government’s position regarding the remaining white commercial farmers in the country.
Responding to that, Dr Mombeshora said the issue of illegal settlers was much complex.
He said some of the illegal settlers were settled by politicians and Ministry officials.
Cde Mombeshora said there should be a way of regularising those people who have stayed on land for more than 10 years and devise a mechanism to stop new illegal settlements.
Online Reporter