Residents of Zimbabwe are under siege!! The Minister of Local Government has been imposing and dictating the use of "devolution funds", to the extent of directing and deciding on behalf of residents and their local councils what equipment to purchase and which companies to supply such equipment without going to tender.

The Local Government Minister seeks to divert more than USD$55 million of devolution funds allocated to Councils in terms of Section 301(3) of the Constitution by directing 89 councils to purchase fire tenders even though are not on the priority list of our Councils.

One fire tender will cost USD464 000.00, the funds to purchase the imposed fire trucks will be deducted from the devolution allocations funds in retrospect 2022 starting from March 2022.

Each Rural District Council has been instructed and directed to buy one fire tender, Urban Local Councils two(2) with Metropolitan Councils purchasing three(3) fire tenders.

This is against principles of devolution provided in Chapter 14 of the Constitution and a catalyst toward the total collapse of service provision in Zimbabwe.

The Parliament of Zimbabwe has a constitutional mandate to protect the constitution and Section 299(1)(a)(b) and(c) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe gives parliament powers to monitor and oversee expenditure by the State and all Commissions and institutions and agencies of government at every level.

If this conduct by the Minister of Local Government persists councils will lose revenue and ultimately lead to poor service provision.

OUR PRAYER AND PLEA

We the petitioners beseech the Parliament of Zimbabwe to;

1. Summon the Minister of Local Government to appear before Parliament and explain the constitutionality of the Ministry’s actions of imposing development priorities on the use of “devolution funds” to the (City of Harare) local authority and the residents of Harare, and the rationale behind directing local authorities to circumvent tender processes and procedures provided by the law.
2. The Minister of Local Government must share the revenue allocation formula being employed to allocate and disburse “devolution funds” to local authorities, and update on “devolution funds” disbursed to the City of Harare.
3. Summon the Minister to bring Bills that will guide devolution implementation as provided by the constitution so that Parliament can enact enabling legislation (Acts of Parliament) which guides the allocation of “devolution funds” and devolution implementation.

Dated 12 July 2022