Provincial
or
Metropolitan
Council
seats
are
filled
using
a
proportional
representation
system,
based
on
the
total
number
of
votes
obtained
by
the
Lower
House
of
Assembly
candidates
from
each
political
party
in
the
province
or
metropolitan
area.
CCC
did
not
submit
their
provincial
council
list during
the
nomination
process
on
June
21,
2023,
and
although
the
party
received
considerable
support
in
Bulawayo
in
the
August
23,
election,
Zanu
PF
members
were
elected
to
the
province
council
as
they
stood
unopposed.
Responding
to
questions
from
CITE,
political
analyst,
Effie
Ncube
stated
that
people
must
recognise
that
Zimbabwe
does
not
yet
have
a
Devolution
Law
that
clearly
defines
the
duties
that
provincial
councils
will
play.
“The
so-called
devolution
law
was
supposed
to
be
in
place
as
early
as
2013,”
Ncube
said.
“Now,
ten
years
later,
there
is
no
law
that
outlines
really
how
the
provincial
councils
are
going
to
work.
“There
was
an
attempt
to
make
that
law,
but
none
came
through,
and
this
is
saddening
because
we
have
a
Constitution
that
spells
out
the
expectations
for
devolution
of
power,
but
the
government
has
done
nothing
at
all
to
legislate
to
operationalize
the
provisions
of
the
Constitution
for
a
decade.”
One
of
the
most
critical
issues,
according
to
Ncube,
is
having
a
law
that
clearly
defines
the
relationship
between
municipal
and
provincial
authorities.
“Now,
local
authorities
are
directly
accountable
to
the
national
government
and
there
is
nothing
really
in
law
that
the
provincial
council
can
wake
up
doing
without
a
law
that
operationalises
their
being
there.
This
is
going
to
be
a
challenge,”
he
said.
“Working
together
will
also
depend
on
the
political
manoeuvres
that
are
likely
to
be
there,
particularly
in
Bulawayo.
I
think
it
will
be
squabbles.
There
is
going
to
be
lots
of
back
and
forth
in
terms
of
who
has
to
do
what
and
what
not
to
do
and
so
forth.”
CCC
did
approach
the
Bulawayo
High
Court
before
elections,
requesting
it
to
order
the
Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission
(ZEC)
to
allow
them
to
submit
their
provincial
council
candidate
names
and
to
overturn
the
following
election
of
Zanu
PF
provincial
council
candidates
who
ran
unopposed.
However,
the court
reserved
its
judgment.
According
to
Ncube,
this
underlines
the
relevance
and
urgency
of
a
Devolution
Law
in
that
it
devolves
power
and
defines
the
tasks
of
local
authorities,
provincial
councils,
and
inter-level
connections
in
terms
of
addressing
specific
situations.
“You
will
find
out
that
this
is
necessary
even
within
the
relationship
between
the
local
authority
and
the
national
government.
For
example,
take
education,
for
instance.
We
say
there
are
concurrent
responsibilities
between
the
council
and
the
government.
The
Council
has
a
responsibility
in
education,
that’s
why
it
has
its
schools
and
the
national
government
also
in
the
same
city,
within
the
city
district,
has
its
schools,”
Ncube
said.
“In
health,
the
council
also
has
its
clinics,
the
national
government
has
its
clinics
also
and
so
forth.
So
we
must
have
a
law
that
clarifies,
otherwise,
you’re
going
to
have
a
lot
of
squabbles
that
are
going
to
diminish
any
possibility
of
success
over
the
next
five
years.”
Ncube
stated
that
while
the
nomination
of
election
candidates
included
slots
for
provincial
councillors,
the
extent
to
which
devolution
was
legislated
meant
that
it
was
not
implemented.
“Devolution
remains
a
pipe
dream
and
is
devolution
only
in
name.
There
have
been
situations
sometimes
where
devolution
funds
sent
to
local
authorities
frequently
go
back
to
Harare
before
they
are
used
because
they
were
not
budgeted
for.
People
just
sit
there
with
a
million
dollars
and
don’t
know
what
to
do
with
it.
The
next
thing
is
the
money
goes
back
to
Harare.
That’s
what
we
are
seeing
in
many
districts,”
he
said.
Another
political
analyst,
Iphithile
Maphosa
also
weighed
in
that
the
Emmerson
Mnangagwa-led
government
had
delayed
in
passing
a
Devolution
Law
so
they
could
maintain
control
over
provinces
and
councils.
“Provinces
and
metropolitan
councils
need
to
run
themselves
for
them
to
be
efficient.
But
no
law
was
passed.
We
learnt
in
the
news
how
the
previous
Parliament
heard
there
was
a
shortage
of
drafters
in
the
Attorney
General’s
office.
Lack
of
a
devolution
law
has
benefitted
the
Zanu
government,”
Maphosa
said.
“Lack
of
law
now
will
again
work
to
Zanu’s
advantage,
especially
in
Bulawayo
where
there
are
elected
CCC
councillors
and
Zanu
PF
provincial
councillors
who
may
want
to
dominate
against
each
other.
But
if
there
was
a
law,
we
know
there
would
be
harmony,
but
we
all
know
what
happens
when
we
have
two
opposing
parties,
CCC
and
Zanu
PF,
it’s
like
having
two
bulls
in
one
kraal.”