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Patience Manzezulu Malaba
RECENTLY I attended a stakeholders’ consultative meeting that was called by the Bulawayo City Council as the local authority sought ratepayers’ views for possible inclusion in its 2014 budget. To me this was a very important meeting to the whole of Bulawayo given that this is the first budget after the historic 31 July election which brought an end to the government of national unity and ushered in a Zanu-PF led Government.
In the context of Bulawayo, the process was even more important given the unique election outcome in the city compared to the rest of the country. While the majority of areas in the country voted overwhelmingly for Zanu-PF, Bulawayo had a 100 percent affirmative vote for the MDC-T in contested seats of both the National Assembly local government. It is therefore interesting for residents to understand what measures the council intended putting in place to ensure sustainable development of the city given its politics which make Bulawayo some island pitted against the rest of the country which had a different preference.
However, to my utter amazement, I sat in that meeting, a second attempt after the first meeting was postponed on an earlier date; which for starters had a paltry number of people most of whom were students from Nust and a few civil society organisations’ representatives.
To me this was a bad indication of the residents’ seriousness in enhancing the capacity of council to improve service delivery. It is irresponsible on the side of residents to abdicate their role of holding the elected officials accountable for their actions. It is abdication of duty by residents to shy away from processes that are meant to make them contribute effectively to the governance of the city.
What the residents should learn is that their responsibilities in governance and policy making do not begin and end with the voting or choosing of councillors; it is much more than that. The election of officials into public positions is just but one of the residents’ contributions to governance. It is, of course the most exciting one and has all sorts of choices which, in some instances, leave many people wondering what criteria or measure is used by the electorate.
Beyond the electoral processes, there is an even much bigger role that residents can play. It is an even more important role as it does not involve emotional choices, that of contribution to the governance of the town through participation in processes on how the council can improve service delivery. When residents vote especially in the emotionally charged areas like Bulawayo where there is limited scrutiny of candidates but more the emotions against the parties perceived to have done injustices, the choice of the representatives in most cases leaves a lot to be desired.
While respecting residents’ choices based on whatever measure and democratic right it is also important for the residents to know that it is not automatic that their votes of preferred individuals mean that they can excel in service delivery. An electorate that has a strong emotional vote needs to make a follow-up and assist the officials they put in place so that they are able to deliver services to residents. It is thus important especially for the city like ours for residents to move in and take an active role in the processes that can yield better service delivery.
Fundamentally what residents need to know is that when you put your vote for your preferred candidate it does not constitute a service delivery choice because the processes of making decisions on service delivery are different from the voting processes. It is thus a measure of commitment for a resident to stand up and be counted on the issues of making important decisions like the budgeting processes.
For a city like Bulawayo, the former industrial capital, it is an imperative that we take initiative to participate effectively in important economic processes. We cannot honestly continue crying marginalisation when we perpetually marginalise ourselves.
For a city that is facing serious problems of water shortage and poor roads, this was the time for us to come in and exchange ideas. Most importantly it was a platform to converse on the issue of revamping our industry. This of course was a part of the meeting. Above all, there was a need for residents to engage with regards to the future of the city; to have clarity on how Government and council can lobby for industrial revival.
There is clear commitment by the new Government to make Bulawayo tick again.
Already we have seen ministers coming to Bulawayo to assess how they can expedite the development of the city but we are not seeing residents doing the same as they miss even their own city council budgeting meetings.
In recent days we have seen some major strides aimed at reviving the fortunes of the city industry. For instance, the recent visit to Typocrafters and a commitment to making it a modern printing giant by the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Professor Jonathan Moyo should be applauded.
On their part, as indicated above, residents should show commitment by attending special events like the budget consultation meetings. The important processes of revival of Bulawayo and the issues of promoting efficiency in service delivery surely cannot be left in the hands of council alone. In fact for me the lack of active and meaningful participation of residents in local government processes is a serious abdication of duty and it must be checked in the bud before it becomes an endemic cancer.
Development needs to be accelerated by people participation and when opportunities are availed for stakeholders to participate, they must not shy away from their role in development and later cry foul when things don’t go their way.
- Patience Manzezulu Malaba is a civil society activist and an undergraduate student in development studies at Lupane State University. She writes in her personal capacity. Contact [email protected]
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