· There must serious and practical measures taken to deal with the scourge of land barons that are becoming a menace to local authorities and are impeding on proper housing delivery.
· The structure of the Ministry should be reviewed to match the new Ministry which is a product of two matched ministries that of Local Government and Rural Development.
· The Civil Protection Unit should be well funded to deal with natural disasters which are ever increasing due to climate change.
· As guided by Chapter 14 of the Constitution, the Ministry should allow local authorities to operate independently from Central Government and should expedite the alignment of Local Government legislation to the Constitution especially establishment of the administrative framework.
· The privatisation and joint ventures of non-performing parastatals as in the case of ZUPCO is also recommended. The Ministry should look for alternative sources of funding in order to carry out key operations like water provision, road maintenance and waste management. Also local authorities need to be capacitated in their activities or duties.
· Treasury should allocate a separate Vote for the Council of Chiefs in terms of Section 305 (3) to make sure that the secretariat for Council of Chiefs is set up. This would bring independence of the Chief’s Council; hence the Chief Council’s Vote should be a standalone according to the Constitution.
· The Ministry should hand over liquor licence operations to local authorities. While they move towards E-Government through online liquor licence application is welcome, the rest of the process is still centralised in Harare.
· The Committee recommends that the whole process be decentralised to enhance convenience and efficient thus avoiding duplication of duties. The Ministry of Finance should comply with the Constitution and allocate 5% of the national budget to provinces and local authorities in accordance with Section 301 (3). It is very clear from the Constitution that the provision does not need an Act of Parliament for it to be effected.
· The Committee recommends the set up of urban public mass transport systems to solve the current problem of commuter-omnibus and unregistered taxis. This calls for serious considerations and effort towards embracing PPPs and BOTs. The Ministry should continue monitoring the local authorities to ensure that they adhere to the 30/70% principle. That is, 30% must go towards salaries and 70% towards service delivery for all revenue generated.
· The Ministry should also advocate for the payment and disbursement to local authorities of their dues in terms of the Public Health Act and ZINARA allocations.
· Treasury must make sure Government departments pay dues to local authorities’ service delivery in order for the local authorities to function properly.
· Treasury should also allocate money for the partial planning kit.
· Finally, the Committee recommends that for full and expedient alignment of laws with the Constitution, more funds should be availed as the allocation of $15 000.00 is insufficient for any meaningful stakeholder engagement.
In conclusion Mr. Speaker Sir, the Committee remains seized with the continued non-adherence to the Constitution by Treasury with regards to the constitutional provisions relating to Section 301(3) on the 5% of the national budget allocation to provinces and local authorities and Section 301 (1) for the capital grants. This severely constrains the service delivery by local authorities. The Committee continues to categorically make it clear that Section 301 (1) is self explainatory and should be implemented. Further, the alignment of local government laws to the Constitution need to be expedited. The Ministry needs to come up with innovative ways in resource mobilisation. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
(205 VIEWS)
