A Discussion Paper by Cont Mhlanga  

Lesson Two

In lesson One of my lessons learned I spoke about the need to depoliticize
public service delivery and to give back to villages their public space to
freely express themselves and take part in influencing public policy and
those decisions that directly affect their well being in their villages.

What I share in lesson two concerns a very sensitive matter of accessing
local resources by the local people.

Fighting poverty in rural communities must involve prioritizing the
mobilization of local  resources at district and provincial levels  and
giving such resources back to the communities at Ward level who then pass
it on to support village and family wealth creation projects and
initiatives.

I don’t know if this is the priority with other districts in Zimbabwe. I
can how ever confirm that in Lupane district and Matebeleland North
province where I draw my lessons from this is the opposite. Government
through its public sector enterprises and the private sector champion the
looting of natural resources from the rural villages. In some cases mostly
were politicians are involved the public sector and private sector
companies close ranks to exploit rural communities driving them to total
poverty.

Agricultural companies; Safari companies; Tourism companies; Environment
and Forestry management companies; Mining companies are amongst the
leaders in exploiting rural communities and accelerating the promotion of
poverty in the rural districts of Matebeleland North.

The sad thing is that most of these companies are run by government
itself, protecting them by monopoly or are licensed by government. Worse
still a large portion of them are owed by politicians or by their
connections. These are the same politicians who return at every election
time to perform acts of public donations to buy votes from the rural
communities that they exploit by night and purport to stand for by day
either as individuals or behind their political parties.

Even public funds raised from the taxpayers or government to government
bilateral agreements do not get to the rural villages nor do the services
that should be funded by such funds get down to the communities in
acceptable quality if it does get there at all. Show me one district in
Matebeleland North that delivers modern, high quality and efficient public
services to its communities and I will swallow my words! A case in point
is the District Development Fund (DDF) whose structure is available and
clear at national, provincial and district levels but does not exist at
Ward level. This allows politicians and top civil servants at these levels
of public administration to misappropriate the fund for self gain as this
structure of the fund does not get to the wards making it unaccountable to
communities that it is intended to serve, support and develop.


A Change For A Better Quality Of Life Now And In Years To Come

There is no acceptable reason why people in Matebeleland North are sinking
in poverty given the vast natural, mineral and heritage resources that is
a blessing of the province.

There is an urgent need to give back funds to the communities through
their ward development committees that are raised through the exploitation
of local natural resources and the inclusion of local initiatives in the
processing and value addition of those resources and services. It is with
these funds that the people will transform themselves to stronger
communities and through fairness, inclusion and equality of opportunity,
build a sustainable future for generations to come. This will even
encourage local communities to fully protect and enhance their environment
and natural resources.

The present practice where community royalties from various natural
resources meant for the community are not given to the communities but
spent on their behalf by civil servants and politicians to provide shoddy
services must change.

Fighting poverty by dumping to rural communities what ever little that
government and non governmental organizations get will not eliminate
poverty in rural communities, not in the foreseeable future. It will only
serve to make the rich get richer and the poor get worse.

Cont Mhlanga
Lupane
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

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