The youthful population in Zimbabwe remains an import resource which when fully utilised can contribute to social and economic transformation. This dynamic group of young people only need social accountability tools and platforms to influence and assert their position in society as change agents. In the absence of the requisite tools and platforms, the voices of this demographic group of people go unheard though they inherit the consequences of decisions made on their behalf. As the debate on the abuse, misuse and misappropriation of public resources deepen in Zimbabwe, the voice of young people becomes more important in shaping the national discourse and holding the public officials to account. It is against this background that the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) launched a Social and Economic Justice Activism Academy aimed at building activism skills of young Zimbabweans to enhance their interest in public finance management issues for them to be champions in demanding fiscal transparency from duty bearers. With public finance management being a vital cog for the realisation of citizens’ social and economic rights,  it is critical for young people to be vibrant in exercising social accountability monitoring to ensure that citizens are not prejudiced of their socioeconomic rights.

The week long inaugural Social and Economic Justice Academy currently running in Kariba, 22-27 July 2019, have seen the convergence of youth from diverse backgrounds including those from youth oriented civil society organisations, socioeconomic rights defenders, aspiring university graduates and journalists. The workshop have seen youth being acquainted with advocacy skills for social and economic justice, gender and budgeting, gender and debt management, economic justice and the administration of public resources (the fundamentals and non negotiable), public resource stewardship and social accountability, leadership, organising and influence in social and economic justice activism.

The power of young people to influence social and economic transformation for the realisation of citizens’ socioeconomic rights has been one of the salient issues that stood out during the discussions. Equipped with transformative leadership and activism skills, participants were encouraged to be active in challenging the status quo as they cannot afford to take back sits in face of socioeconomic injustices. Towards the cause, young people have been encouraged to unsubscribe from the tags of instigators of violence. Giving welcome remarks at the Academy, ZIMCODD Executive Director, Janet Zhou, encouraged young people to desist from being used as agents for political mileage during elections and start being engaged as a critical stakeholder in the whole governance chain. 

Furthermore, the Academy bridged the ideological deficit and established justifications why young people must actively participate in economic justice discourse. Given the evolution of communication in a digitalised world, youth were encouraged to utilise social media platforms to shape the narrative in quest for social and economic justice so that socioeconomic rights defenders sing from the same hymn. One of the biggest challenges facing the current generation of youth is polarisation where the young blood is divided along political lines. There is therefore need for youth to depolarise themselves and embrace nationalism beyond political affiliations to ensure the realisation of social and economic justice. Youth should therefore have ideological clarity not influenced by politics and unapologetically side with the poor.

The urban poor in Epworth are not spared from the macroeconomic challenges bedevilling the country. If anything, their situation is becoming worse by day. From poor state of public service delivery, corruption at the Epworth Local Board to moral decadence, the life led by residents is far much contrary from that led in other parts of Harare.  Epworth residents bare it all at the Constituency Indaba convened by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), a platform that facilitated dialogue between residents, Member of Parliament, ward councillors and the Local Board. Nevertheless, the socioeconomic ills have been largely attributed to political actors who stand in the way of development.

There is a sharp disparity between the urban poor in Epworth and the better sections of Harare as the majority of people live in slums exposing them to adverse health conditions and deprivation. The poverty levels in Epworth are even worse than those in the rural areas. Due to excessive shortages of clean and portable water, residents resorted to alternative sources of water which is now a health ticking time bomb for water borne diseases. This is worsened by lack of sewer reticulation and there is need for urgent attention to this matter.

Epworth, is one of the areas experiencing a deteriorating health system despite Section 76 of the Constitution which provides that every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has the right to have access to basic health care services including reproductive health services.  Primary health care is very poor, forcing women to seek maternal health facilities at Edith Opperman Maternity Hospital in Mbare.  At the few clinics available in Epworth, the women have to buy all the required medical equipment for maternal health services. The case of Epworth health services is a mirror reflection of the prevailing health service delivery in the country characterised by shortages basic drugs and prevalence of communicable and primitive diseases.

Thee land rights question is one of the most burning and contentious issue in Epworth as the residents are at constant risk of eviction, further exposing them to poverty and vulnerability. During the Indaba, land barons were fingered in the double land allocation some of which results in unnecessary conflicts and evictions. The local authorities are however seized with the regularisation process to ensure that Epworth settlements conform to bylaws.

Recommendations

• Areas like Epworth must be prioritised by government under devolution to reduce the spatial inequalities that currently exist. This will ensure more investment into basic services such as health care, education, water and sanitation as well as electricity supply.
• The government should come up with deliberate income generation programmes targeting women and youth in order to create jobs and eradicate poverty.
• The government should make a deliberate decision under the devolution process to extend financial resources that are necessary for improving public services in Epworth. 

The Constituency Indaba convened by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) presented an opportunity for the Gweru Urban residents to Interface with the local authorities and their Member of Parliament. Participants managed to table the socioeconomic issues affecting them as a community that is issues to do with livelihoods, education, health, infrastructure, water and sanitation were discussed. In order to complement platforms like Constituency Indabas, residents demanded that community radios should not solely focus on politics but focus more on community development issues that facilitate dialogue between local leaders and the community. This is to ensure that local authorities and Members of Parliament provide residents with regular updates on the use of public funds so that citizens can hold duty bearers to account.

The residents bemoaned how the Gweru City Council does not collect refuse on a regular basis citing fuel shortages for this yet they do not run short of fuel for the cat and mouse game with the vendors who are trying to earn a living. This is just a clear testimony of the misplaced priorities by the city fathers who do not prioritise garbage collection for the rate payers. As if that is not enough, residents bemoaned bullying by the city fathers as they get punished for questioning the actions of their ward councils by losing their stuff during the council-vendor raids. As the country heads towards effective devolution, there is urgent need to ensure that responsible local authorities are in place to see the process through.

Residents of Gweru City emphasised the violation of their children’s right to education. This has been attributed to the massive growth in urban population against a stunted growth in the number of government schools in the area with the exception of Senga and Mkoba which has more schools. As a result of the schools shortage Santara and St. Michaels Schools have become so congested as the majority citizens cannot afford expensive colleges while most children have to travel long distances of at least 10km to access education. This means a late start for most children until they reach an age when they are able to travel long distances to school alone.  Most children living with disabilities are also failing to access education since they do not have wheelchairs.

The lack of special paper to print passports has become a thorn in the flesh for Gweru senior citizens who cannot access the travel document in instances when they want to access quality health care outside Zimbabwe. This comes at a time when the country is grappling with ever deteriorating health services which see most people accessing foreign health care. On top of that massive water shortages in Gweru Urban is a ticking time bomb for diseases such as typhoid as residents resort to unsafe alternative sources of water. Nevertheless, the City of Gweru representative promised residents that commercial boreholes will be drilled in the community to alleviate water shortages.

Residents lamented the abuse of funds collected from vendors by the council, and demanded transparency and trustworthiness in handling such public funds to ensure that they are channelled towards the betterment of vending sites. Calls for transparency and accountability in the expenditure of revenue is one of the burning issues as the Public Finance Management Act is in the process of being aligned to the Constitution with corruption and abuse of public resources being rampant from local to national level. This is the basis upon which the demand for devolution accountability structure is being made.

Engagement, dialogue and responsiveness from duty bearers are critical components for effective governance from local to national level. This was emphasised by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development Programmes Manager, Mr John Maketo, at the Mutasa South Constituency Indaba on 25 June 2019. The Indaba which is a node in a series of quarterly constituency indabas was born out of ZIMCODD’s realisation that there exists a widening gap between the electorate and the elected. To bridge this gap the coalition convened an Indaba in Mutasa South Constituency to facilitate dialogue between residents and duty bearers inclusive of the Member of Parliament (MP), Mutare City Mayor and Ward Councillors. The platform brought together all and sundry despite their political and other differences.

The Mutasa South Constituency Indaba put the following key issues on the agenda for dialogue with their leadership:

ü  Public resource management in relation to the following:

–       Mineral revenue transparency

–       Health service delivery

–       Infrastructure development (road network maintenance)

–       Education service delivery

–       Transparency and accountability in the use of local funds

One of the participant testified that it was her first time to meet the Member of Parliament since he was elected into office. “Nhasi ndafara nezvataitirwa neveZIMCODD, nekuti ini ndiko kekutanga kusangana naMP wangu” (I am happy with the opportunity afforded to us by ZIMCODD, for me this is my first time to meet my MP), charged the participant. The comment is just a clear testimony of how duty bearers at local level are sometimes alien to the people they represent. Just like in any other parts of Africa, most leaders interface with the people during the elections campaign period thereafter they go into political hibernation. The constituency indabas are therefore coming at an opportune time when citizens hunger for platforms to interface with their leaders to jointly couch contextualised development solutions for their specific communities.

It is ZIMCODD’s belief that, together, rights holders (citizens) and duty bearers can proffer solutions to challenges bedevilling their respective communities but that is only possible if the two interface and embrace dialogue. Mutasa South Constituency Indaba brought to light the socioeconomic challenges in the area with special focus on Public Finance Management. Mutasa South is confronted with a number of challenges including poor and inadequate health facilities, congested schools, poor road networks affecting livelihoods, poor water and sanitation, exorbitant rates charged by the Mutare City Council and irresponsible mining activities among others. This provided an opportunity for the respective authorities to share with citizens the current and future plans to address these issues. Having realised the government incapacitation to improve education services, the Mutare City Council introduced the Education levy of $1 towards building schools in the area.

The Indaba also established that there is deliberate disinformation by council authorities regarding financial information. It was heard that many councils do not have audit reports and this hinder efforts towards ensuring accountability and transparency, therefore the Indaba resolved that the Public Finance Management Act should compel councils to produce and avail financial statements to give room for the public to hold authorities accountable. To enhance literacy among the participants, in addition to authorities encouraged to create information hubs, Mutasa South residents were urged to explore available social media platforms and get informed on economic governance issues. The current power cuts in the country were also linked to the debt question and citizens were made aware of the country’s failure to settle the over US$80 million owed to South Africa’s Eskom and Mozambique’s Hydro Cahora Bassa.

Discord between the Member of Parliament and the Mutare City Council was singled out by ward councillors as one of the major hindrances of development in the constituency and from the discussions, the MP and the Mutare City Council have never met to discuss developmental issues in the area. The Indaba called for proper coordination between the two authorities to ensure progress. Above all, residents were encouraged to set aside their political differences since constituency development issues affect all despite one’s political affiliations.

Engagement, dialogue and responsiveness from duty bearers are critical components for effective governance from local to national level. This was emphasised by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development Programmes Manager, Mr John Maketo, at the Mutasa South Constituency Indaba on 25 June 2019. The Indaba which is a node in a series of quarterly constituency indabas was born out of ZIMCODD’s realisation that there exists a widening gap between the electorate and the elected. To bridge this gap the coalition convened an Indaba in Mutasa South Constituency to facilitate dialogue between residents and duty bearers inclusive of the Member of Parliament (MP), Mutare City Mayor and Ward Councillors. The platform brought together all and sundry despite their political and other differences.

The Mutasa South Constituency Indaba put the following key issues on the agenda for dialogue with their leadership:

• Public resource management in relation to the following:
• Mineral revenue transparency
• Health service delivery
• Infrastructure development (road network maintenance)
• Education service delivery
• Transparency and accountability in the use of local funds

One of the participant testified that it was her first time to meet the Member of Parliament since he was elected into office. “Nhasi ndafara nezvataitirwa neveZIMCODD, nekuti ini ndiko kekutanga kusangana naMP wangu” (I am happy with the opportunity afforded to us by ZIMCODD, for me this is my first time to meet my MP), charged the participant. The comment is just a clear testimony of how duty bearers at local level are sometimes alien to the people they represent. Just like in any other parts of Africa, most leaders interface with the people during the elections campaign period thereafter they go into political hibernation. The constituency indabas are therefore coming at an opportune time when citizens hunger for platforms to interface with their leaders to jointly couch contextualised development solutions for their specific communities.

It is ZIMCODD’s belief that, together, rights holders (citizens) and duty bearers can proffer solutions to challenges bedevilling their respective communities but that is only possible if the two interface and embrace dialogue. Mutasa South Constituency Indaba brought to light the socioeconomic challenges in the area with special focus on Public Finance Management. Mutasa South is confronted with a number of challenges including poor and inadequate health facilities, congested schools, poor road networks affecting livelihoods, poor water and sanitation, exorbitant rates charged by the Mutare City Council and irresponsible mining activities among others. This provided an opportunity for the respective authorities to share with citizens the current and future plans to address these issues. Having realised the government incapacitation to improve education services, the Mutare City Council introduced the Education levy of $1 towards building schools in the area.

The Indaba also established that there is deliberate disinformation by council authorities regarding financial information. It was heard that many councils do not have audit reports and this hinder efforts towards ensuring accountability and transparency, therefore the Indaba resolved that the Public Finance Management Act should compel councils to produce and avail financial statements to give room for the public to hold authorities accountable. To enhance literacy among the participants, in addition to authorities encouraged to create information hubs, Mutasa South residents were urged to explore available social media platforms and get informed on economic governance issues. The current power cuts in the country were also linked to the debt question and citizens were made aware of the country’s failure to settle the over US$80 million owed to South Africa’s Eskom and Mozambique’s Hydro Cahora Bassa.

Discord between the Member of Parliament and the Mutare City Council was singled out by ward councillors as one of the major hindrances of development in the constituency and from the discussions, the MP and the Mutare City Council have never met to discuss developmental issues in the area. The Indaba called for proper coordination between the two authorities to ensure progress. Above all, residents were encouraged to set aside their political differences since constituency development issues affect all despite one’s political affiliations.

Zimbabwe’s natural and mineral resource endowment is undoubtedly sufficient to resolve and address the socio-economic crises affecting the majority of the citizens. Manicaland Province is one of the mineral rich provinces being endowed with eighteen valuable minerals. From diamond and gold to timber in the province, the people of Manicaland in particular and Zimbabweans in general should be leading decent and happy lives derived from the natural resources. What then is the cause of misery and suffering in a sea of plenty? Is it a case of bad stewardship or that of mining laws and policies that prioritise large scale mining conglomerates at the expense of locals? These are some of the questions asked at the Manicaland Provincial Alternative Mining Indaba (PAMI) held in the resource rich province from 11-12 June2019, convened by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC). Participants from mining areas in the province expressed great dismay at the manner in which the mineral wealth in their area is being exploited by companies like the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) without meaningful benefit to the locals.

Manicaland province is confronted by a myriad of socio-economic challenges ranging from perennial youth unemployment, de-industrialisation, bad and inadequate infrastructure, underdevelopment, poor social service delivery and ecological debt. Development practitioners the world over talk of the “resource curse” while others like Andre-Gunder Frank talk of the unequal economic relationship that exists between the global north and south that perpetuates economic inequality and misery as a result of the extractive centre-periphery relationship. The centre-periphery relationship entails a scenario whereby multinational mining conglomerates based in the global north exploit mineral and natural resources from periphery countries like Zimbabwe without value addition and a deliberate policy to create decent employment and economic development for the resource rich countries. Such is the case in Manicaland.

Redwing Mine in Manicaland among others operate without any meaningful socio-economic development translated into the host community. Participants from Penhalonga bemoaned lack of clear policy strategies on the part of both government and Redwing Mine which has been mining gold since 1884, to craft policies that empower the Tsvingwe community in form of decent jobs and wages as well as the establishment of factories that can value-add to the gold through jewellery making. Penhalonga community members continue to cry foul at the serious levels of pollution in a major water sources especially the Mutare river being polluted by both large- and small-scale miners. This have negatively affected the locals’ livelihood activities. it was also highlighted that a Russian gold mining company illegally engaging in riverbed gold mining violating environmental regulations and also compromising the natural ecosystem. Such is also the case with the Chiadzwa community where different diamond companies have been mining the precious stone for the past decade but there are no diamond polishing and cutting companies that have been established in Chiadzwa to open employment opportunities for the host community.

It is a serious cause for concern that both Artisanal Small-Scale Miners (ASMs) and large-scale miners are all contributing to the ecological debt that comes with unsustainable mining activities. ASMs and larger scale miners in Penhalonga are failing to take environmental rehabilitation initiatives to fill up pits and holes dug during the mining processes. The blasting taking at diamond mines in Chiadzwa are causing air pollution exposing communities to terrible respiratory diseases. Such levels of irresponsible pollution are in violation of Section 73 of the Zimbabwean Constitution which states that every person has the right to an environment not harmful to health and well-being. Chinese mining companies as stipulated in the Environmental Management Act mining companies must ensure that they fill up open shafts and engage in reforestation through tree planting but nothing of this sought has been done in Chiadzwa.

Participants at the PAMI exhibited dedication to carrying on with the social struggle towards sustainable mining to ensure community beneficiation. They therefore called upon the government to ensure responsible investment in the mining sector as well as mechanising small scale miners in the gold and diamond sectors.

Stakeholders (academia, local authorities, civil society) in Gweru, Shurugwi, Vungu and Kwekwe convened at the second Public Finance Management (PFM) Reform Indaba, which interrogated the implications of devolution to the management of public funds especially by local authorities. The legal framework that guides operations of local government include the National Constitution of Zimbabwe; the Public Finance Management Act, Urban Councils Act; Rural District Councils Act; Traditional Leaders Act; and the Provincials Council and Administration Act, Chapter 29:11.

Of these frameworks, the Constitution of Zimbabwe is the supreme law to which all other pieces of legislation should speak. However, there is need for these laws to be aligned to the Constitution to ensure harmony, coordination and effectiveness in the manner local authorities run their business, especially management of public resources. Cognisant of the high level of corruption in Zimbabwe’s government departments, as annually reported by the Office of the Auditor General, misuse of public resources is widespread as these departments perennially fail to account for the resources allocated to them.

Lack of transparency and accountability in the management of public finances has, to a greater extent, contributed to the push for devolution by various stakeholders who feel that the “Central Government must of necessity nurture a conducive environment that enables local authorities to optimally tap into the local resources, material, capital and human. Furthermore, central government should deploy such resources at its disposal to bolster local authorities; provided there is an enabling fiscal framework”.[1]

Based on this background and context, the stakeholders attending the Gweru PFM Reform Indaba reiterated the following key advocacy issues around public finance management in the context of devolution:-

• The greatest hindrance to Zimbabwe’s progress in the management of public finances is lack of commitment by political leadership. ;
• There is therefore need for the citizens to exercise their social accountability role and resist government complacency in abusing public funds;
• Issues of public finance management and devolution are technical for citizens to easily grasp. Civil society should therefore embark on an intensive awareness campaign so that when devolution is rolled out , citizens act from an informed perspective to defend their social and economic rights;
• The knitted corruption in Zimbabwe, if not addressed, will be a headwind against the implementation of devolution;
• There must be commitment to sound public finance management before devolution is implemented;
• Other sentiments, however, indicated that devolution is a means to sound public finance management;
• The chicken and egg relationship between public finance management and devolution calls upon the rights holders and duty bearers to have multi-stakeholder engagements on what they deem fit for their particular area;
• It is critical for the implementing authorities to implement devolution gradually rather than full-throttle in order to give enough room for process tracking, monitoring and evaluation to allow for remedies;
• For devolution to be effective in delivering social services to the public, citizens should actively demand for accountability;
• Devolution comes with threats to political power, hence citizens should be ready to deal with resistance to the implementation of devolution; 
• To plug leakages in public finance management stringent penalties in by enacting laws and ensuring that public officials abide by these laws.
• Arresting abusers of public funds put them in jail until justice is brought to tax payers’ money;
• Institute mechanisms for asset recovery in cases where abuse of public funds is proven before the law.

---

[1] N. Machingauta 2010), Local Government Reform in Zimbabwe: A Policy Dialogue.

There is a strong link between a strong public finance management (PFM) system and the success of a devolved system of government. PFM which is generally defined as the science and art of budgeting, spending and accounting for public funds is the most fundamental element of public sector reform that Zimbabwe needs if it is to succeed economically. PFM not only helps to ensure that there are clearly defined and well applied rules and processes for managing public resources but provides citizens with the information they need to evaluate revenue generation and expenditure. Devolution is usually understood as the assignment of public functions to sub-national governments. On the 15^th of May 2019, ZIMCODD held a PFM Reform Indaba in Mutare whose objective was to establish the link between an effective PFM system and an effectively devolved state.

Devolution of governmental powers and resources has always been a contested subject in Zimbabwe. The controversies that surrounded the adoption of devolution hindered efforts to implement it since 2013, when the new Constitution of Zimbabwe was adopted. The incumbent government signaled intentions to implement devolution during the 2018-2022 tenure, with the Minister of Finance and Economic Development (in accordance with the Constitution) already allocating 5% of the national budget towards facilitating the implementation of devolution. The process and nature of devolution to be implemented remains unclear. While the 2013 Constitution is not a perfect document that entrenches all the necessary aspects of an effective devolution programme, it does provide the starting point towards the establishment of a decentralized government.

What is required in particular is for national officials (both political and administrative) to commit to devolution process that respects the rules of the law. Importantly, if devolution is to succeed it should be a nationally shared objective supported by both those with and without power. Devolution should be seen as a necessary vehicle towards a deepened democracy, locally driven development, improved public service delivery and national cohesion.

For devolution to be fruitful in Zimbabwe, there is need for an effective PFM system anchored on transparency and accountability. The elements of sub national PFM, including basic accounting and reporting, cash management, procurement, debt management, internal control and audit and external audit and performance evaluation immediately become the center of discussion. PFM reforms are thus essential for the desired outcomes of devolution because since the reforms ensure managerial efficiency, transparency and accountability by the government departments. Autonomy for the local authorities remain critical.  

The PFM Reform Indaba exhibited a growing citizens’ appetite for open access to local government information. This includes not only on how local authorities generate and spend their own resources, but also on how they have used funds transferred from central government. Such information will allow citizens to determine the extent to which local authorities’ development plans and annual budgets are implemented and to enhance accountability. These are some of the issues that the new PFM Act should address towards a successful implementation of devolution.

Citizen agency in Zimbabwe on effective PFM and devolution system is gathering momentum and through the PFM Reform Indabas, ZIMCODD is providing a platform for citizens to voice their concerns and aspirations as the country is bracing towards devolution.

Devolution provides a ray of hope for the people of Hwange, Matabeleland North Province with the highest prevalence of poverty in Zimbabwe. Hwange residents expressed interest on public finance management in the context of devolution in the country at the recently held PFM Reform Indaba in Hwange convened by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) on the 7^th of May 2019. The major question was: How will Hwange benefit from its natural resources as the country commit to devolution spelt out in Chapter 14 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment 20 of 2013? The question is very relevant considering that Matabeleland hosts the largest coal deposits in the country, Hwange National Park and the mighty Victoria Falls, the two of which are world renowned tourist destinations with the latter being of the Seven Wonders of the World. The deliberate decision to cede or transfer power from central government to provincial councils and local authorities is a noble idea. The criteria proposed under the 2019 National Budget Statement based on population size, poverty levels, infrastructure deficits and economic disparities between provinces is a good starting point. However, a comprehensive revenue sharing model should not only be influenced by political parameters. The financial and economic considerations have to be made in determining the weight of population, infrastructure gaps and/or economic disparities in setting the fiscal formulae for revenue sharing in which case, the different provincial and local councils will be funded commensurate to their fiscal needs, effort and gaps.

Nevertheless, devolution is not a panacea to inequality, poverty and poor corporate governance if it does not bring about empowerment, participation and inclusion by the governed. Moreover, the success of devolution depends on sound PFM systems at both central and local levels. The Indaba was therefore clear on strengthening legal and institutional provisions enhancinge fficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery and allocation of resources amid outright corruption and misappropriation of state funds by local authorities. PFM principles, therefore guarantee integrity in financial and non financial reporting, control, budgeting &performance systems.

The success of devolution in Zimbabwe, therefore lies in the ability to plan and implement, consistent with Section 301 of the National Constitution, on allocation of revenues between provincial and local tiers of government and related frameworks for public finance management hinged on the following;

·         Expenditure management;

·         Financial accountability mechanisms and frameworks;

·         Respect of statutory limits on state borrowing;

·         Internal control mechanisms;

·         Reporting requirements of the Auditor General and Parliament of Zimbabwe in their joint oversight roles.

Towards effective local governance…

ZIMCODD therefore calls for political will to address weak internal controls, poor corporate governance, procurement irregularities, and inadequate controls in receipting payments and meeting statutory obligations and deadlines for financial reporting which are recurrent in the successive Auditor General’s reports. Without political will to implement punitive measures on errant local and central government officials, the inherent benefits associated with devolution will remain theoretical. The first step therefore will be to enforce the implementation of Section 299(1) of the Constitution regarding the role of parliament to monitor and oversee provincial and metropolitan councils as well as local authorities through the alignment of the Public Finance Management Act to the Constitution and the promulgation of an Act of Parliament to operationalize devolution. The proposed Act of Parliament should be clear on the obligation of sub-national governments to submit annual budgets and financial performance reports to government, Auditor General and Parliament of Zimbabwe. Such provisions should also incorporate provisions that establish institutional and administrative frameworks that are used by parliament in monitoring and overseeing state revenues and expenditure.

Hwange PFM Reform Indaba strategic as fiscal decadence rock the giant coal miner…

The Indaba came at an opportune time in Hwange as the Hwange Colliery Company is under reconstruction and still grappling withovert corruption, weak corporate governance and destructive political interference with all the mess linked to some currently serving top public officials.Despite successive audits pointing out to abuse of public funds at the parastatal, political interference at the coal mining giant has thwarted appropriate action to be taken against corrupt individuals who have contributed to massive losses by HCCL. This has seen wage backlogs the coal miner is currently battling with and this is a typical natural resource curse or paradox of plenty where communities endowed with natural resources tend to have less economic growth and worse development compared to those communities without natural resources.

This is all despite the strategic importance of the coal mine as the backbone of the Zimbabwean industry supporting a number of strategic industries including power generation, agriculture and manufacturing.Nevertheless, the situation at the coal mine is only but a typical example of the fiscal decadence rocking public enterprises and this only highlights that parastatal reforms are long overdue.  It is a pity how state owned enterprises have been reduced to mere “cash cows” for the top brass of the Zimbabwean society. If the government is seriously committed to economic revival, it is high time public finance management reforms are implemented for the betterment of the whole nation. Transparency and accountability remain key for ensuring effective and progressive fiscal management. Lest you missed the Hwange PFM Reform Indaba, click here and listen to live updates aired on Breeze Fm.