Are Zimbabwe’s local units of public management expendable?

Abstract

The article focusses on the question of whether Zimbabwe’s local units of public management are substitutable. The question is asked considering Zimbabwe’s present heightened national government emasculation of lawfully designated local authorities’ powers and tasks. Water supply and sanitation, solid waste management, road construction and maintenance, healthcare, motor vehicle registration and licensing are just a few of the examples of local functions the national level has allocated to national agencies it directly controls over the past few years. Given this background, the article sought to explore through structured documentary analysis acceptability of the national level’s substitution of the local units of public governance in service delivery. Crucially, the engagement revolves around the fundamental policy issue of protecting the autonomy of the local units. Among others, the article finds that the local sphere of government is rooted in rich philosophies, theories and legal protections that make it indispensable in the country’s governmental system even as it is constantly encountering brutal assault seemingly designed to bring it into the orbit of national government; tamed, subdued and emasculated.