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What Can Local Authorities Do About Youth (Un)Employment?

In this sequel to “Next Generation Report 2020 – What Can Local Authorities Do?” we continue with an analysis of how our local authorities can play critical roles in assisting the young people of Zimbabwe with regards to the socio economic challenges that they face. The New Generation report touched on Employment, which is the focus of this article. Issues raised in the report 1. High levels of unemployment 2. Growth of the informal sector in the past 10 years 3. Limited capacity in the country to absorb new entrants in the job market 4. The country has failed to create an enabling environment for enterprises to thrive and create jobs 5. The country has experienced persistent deindustrialisation and the informalisation of the economy 6. 24% of young people in formal employment, 35% in informal employment, 41% dependent 7. Unemployment more prevalent amongst the female youth 8. Opportunities to earn a li

OAG 2018 Report for Local Authorities (Intro)

I am excited that the 2018 OAG Report on Local Authorities has finally been published. I've been waiting for it! And judging from Tweets and other write ups on various social media platforms, I wasn't the only one. As soon as I am through with going through the reports, I will then give my independent analysis and comments thereon. For today, I just want to comment briefly on what I came across that depicts the excitement and speed with which we have rushed to talk about the long awaited report. First up, a Chronicle report on the Bulawayo City Council report. The heading in a nice,big bold font spoke of a $434,450 car loan. Half a million. The report itself spoke of $34,450. Whilst this was an obvious typo, from which none of us are immune, it speaks to the quality of editing, to which all of us should be immune. The same Chronicle report also cited the Kusile RDC as contravening a section of the Urban Councils Act. Why not? RDC's are governed by the Rural District

2019 and Local Government In Zimbabwe

I first published this article in my LinkedIn Account on the 1st of January 2019. 2018 has come and gone and the rhetoric question is - are we better off now than when 2018 started? In the sphere of local governance, 2018 was a difficult year, as most local authorities reviewed by TMR® cited financial challenges owing to reduced income and increasing operational expenditure. A good number had statutory debts. Some local authorities, particularly RDCs, failed to pay full salaries to staff. Externally, the Office of the Auditor General issued several damning reports, casting a shadow on institutions that were expected to shine, more so after the promulgation of the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act of 2018. Even as local authorities continued to work together as organisations, as witnessed by the formation of their umbrella body ZILGA in July 2018, accountability to stakeholders remained elusive as service delivery was compromised, partly because of councils’ failure to live

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