via Deal with corruption everywhere – NewsDay Zimbabwe January 20, 2016
For far too many years, local authorities have been reduced into feeding troughs for politicians and top council officials, many of whom have presided over the infrastructural collapse of our cities and towns.
Hence, the recent call by Local Government, Public Works and National Housing minister Saviour Kasukuwere to fire all directors implicated in the mismanagement of funds and corruption in councils should be applauded and taken seriously.
Perhaps, this is probably the only way that the vice of corruption can be effectively stamped out in local authorities in all major cities and towns including in the countryside.
Given that many of the audit reports for local authorities show rampant abuse of ratepayers’ money, it is only noble to ensure that those implicated should not only be booted out, but prosecuted to send a strong message to like-minded individuals in positions of authority.
Embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds, wasteful expenditure and poor corporate governance seem to have become the DNA of most local authorities. Some of the officials opt to have seminars and workshops outside their cities and this raises eyebrows. Is it a matter of just abusing the money? Why not cut expenditure by having low-cost meetings within their cities and towns?
Ratepayers in most cities and towns are being taken for a ride with scant service delivery coming from the local authorities and they have to contend with burst sewer pipes and uncollected garbage that pose a serious threat to their health. Yet, many have been faithfully paying their dues for non-existent service by councils. We believe that the residents deserve better treatment at the hands of local authorities.
We, therefore, applaud Kasukuwere for some movement which, if implemented, will likely restore sanity to all cities and towns that have gone down the drain across the country while successive council leaderships were concerned with purchasing luxury vehicles, among many other perks, at the expense of service delivery.
Most of the local authorities have been struggling to offer basic services to the people just because some resources have dwindled as a result of corrupt activities by senior management.
It is unfortunate that corruption was allowed to develop into a culture in Zimbabwe across all public institutions and government. So unless there are vigorous measures to descend on endemic graft, ratepayers may as well forget that they would ever benefit from normal service delivery that they are entitled to and deserve.
Sadly, this culture was allowed to infiltrate the fabric of society such that it has become a new normal to live with poor service delivery.
Expecting anything better is like expecting a little too much. So, while we commend the action, we urge Kasukuwere to ensure service delivery is improved.
However, he should lead by example when it comes to living clean. He should also cause a personal clean-up while demanding his party Zanu PF and his counterparts in the Executive to shun corruption if Zimbabwe is to move towards development.
COMMENTS
Yes, any criminal who is disenfranchised (or pushed out) of the zanu pf looting wagon is good news to Zim taxpayers, and all straight beings.
However, the real problem, which actually happens to be is the real and practical zanu pf position, which is ” A LOOTER CONTINUA”, always remain, and often accelerates whenever these zanu pf thieves fire & replace each other – on factional basis, of course – and never on principle and/or merit.
So, yes criminals need be fired or better still arrested. But the solution is to remove and/or arrest all zanu pf criminals. and I means ALL OF THEM, including their BOSS who is right busy enjoying taxpayers money somewhere, in some exotic countries or islands, while Zimbabwe is burning – with national institutions being bankrupt and key civil servants getting no salaries, including the gullible tribal chiefs. All because of GREED & LOOTING of national resource by zanu pf people. NXaaaa!!!
For serious students of SubSahara Africa (ssa) it is becoming more and more difficult to believe in a bright future for the area because the evidence is growing and raising questions whether the countries can be properly managed as modern economies by the so-called indigenous people where almost without exception corruption, incompetence, and general sleaze at all levels of government have become ubiquitous and disabling since decolonization.
Taking Zimbabwe as an example the high point came in the late stages of Rhodesia. Since then all of the essential utilities necessary for a modern life (electric, water, roads, etc) have been allowed to partially decay. No investments have been made in them. The government is 10-billions in debt and no one knows where the borrowed money was spent and there is nothing to show for it. They want to borrow more money and are dismayed that no one trusts them to pay it back. Nothing can be done without paying exorbitant bribes. There is no rule of law. What passes for law is likened unto school children playing a game at recess and making up the rules as they go. In this vein one could go on and on. But it is just too heart breaking to enumerate and the implications are so deadly serious. Nothing taking place in ssa today engenders optimism about the future.
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