COVER STORY : AUGUST 2018

COVER STORY by Tamsanqa Mhepoh

Elvis Sbanda, CEO, Matobo Rural District Council.

TURNING A RURAL AREA INTO AN ECONOMIC ZONE

Imagine turning rural Matabeleland South into some kind of economic zone.

You start by converting a beer hall in the growth point into a Small and Medium Enterprises hub.

And then convert one of the 25 wards into an animal conservancy.

You also enact local policies that encourage economic empowerment, employment creation and investment.

Such is the vision of Elvis Sibanda, Chief Executive Officer of Matobo Rural District Council (RDC), who professes the desire to put “all structures into meaningful use through public private partnerships.”

For the past five years at the helm of the RDC, Sibanda has worked hard to turn this vision into reality.

His nomination for a 2018 Megafest Leadership Award could be testimony that Zimbabwe is noticing his effort.

As an emerging local government practitioner with a focus on local economic development through public private partnerships, Sibanda and his administration have a good corporate governance system and a competent attempt at stakeholder engagement at the core of their strategy.

“As a local authority, we have created rapport with stakeholders such that we challenge them to invite us to their meetings since we also invite them when we have full council meetings,” said Sibanda who works from Maphisa, a growth point about 123 km south of Bulawayo. “We do this so that they see that their aspirations are taken into consideration and also for transparency.”

Matobo lies on about 7000 square kilometres of land and has a population of over 90 000 according to the 2012 Census. it is bounded to the east by Gwanda, to the west by Bulilima and Mangwe, to the North by Bulawayo and Botswana to the South.

Northern Matobo consists of rocky hills which gave birth to the name Matobo. The district is part of the world heritage site with its scenic sites incorporating Cecil John Rhodes Grave, Old Bulawayo, Njelele Shrine; San rock paintings, the national park, and wildlife and dam sanctuaries.

Moreover, flora, fauna and minerals in Matobo means that the District proffers a lot of opportunities for tourism, mining, agriculture and construction, hence the local authority’s aggressive stance to local economic development through synergies with locals, government and Non-Governmental Organisations.

“We had to invite SMEs to come and put up structures in what used to be the beer garden so that they conduct their businesses,” Sibanda said.

“We charge them a very minimal fee of US$8 per person. For example, if we had leased our beer garden we were going to charge US$250 per month, but if we have 50 SMEs and charge them US$8, how much do we earn?” Sibanda asked rhetorically. “There is value and practicality there,” he added.

The SME’s Hub dubbed the Small and Medium Enterprises One Stop Shop features a restaurant, flea market, carpentry and joinery workshop and a couple of electrical appliances sales and repair centres.

Sibanda also mentioned that the RDC had successfully engaged the services of a professional hunter who would oversee the operation of a conservancy in ward 20. However, the Ministry of Local Government was yet to give the project greenlight.

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Beautiful scenary of rural Matobo. These gorgeous granite formations tower above homesteads. This particular picture shows a Lodge in Matobo

The Rocky Path.

Pursuing a developmental agenda in Matobo has sometimes been reminiscent of the natural terrain of the area, rocky and rugged.

Even if religious adherence to statutory instruments such as the Public Financial Management Act and Rural District Councils Act is imperative to running the local authority efficiently, it is sometimes ground of conflict of interest, particularly with other government departments.

“Most of these acts are our bible so to speak”, stated Sibanda pointedly. “There is a statutory instrument that declares RDC’s as planning authorities, but in the process of planning there is someone with more powers than the Rural Authority in terms of planning and it means there is conflict.”

Even if the constitution confers the Rural Council authority to plan for land use, the Department of Physical Planning has to approve all of their endeavours. This is not the case with Urban Councils, who have considerably more autonomy as they approve land use on their own after consultation with relevant stakeholders.

The former beer garden now SME’s Hub

Just recently, the Department of Physical Planning rejected the Matobo RDC’s application for 500 stands on land directly opposite to the Maphisa District Hospital in a bid to expand Maphisa growth point for economic activities. The RDC was told that there were two mining claims on that land but there appears to be no further details on ownership of those mining claims.

“The constitution says local authorities shall have the power to govern, and there are issues listed there; power to collect, power to license, power to control, power to develop, but still you find other statutory instruments conflicting with that. An immediate example is the RDC Act Chapter 29:13. It has not been aligned to the new constitution,” cited the Chief Executive, who holds a Bachelors Degree in Local Government and a Masters in Development Studies.

However, the rural local authorities through their association, are in the process of lobbying the government to delete sections in statutory instruments that undermine their ability to govern whilst granting Ministers “sweeping powers” in the running of local authorities.

Another stumbling block adding to the rugged path in the operations of Sibanda’s council is the issue of defaulting rate payers.

In 2013 Government issued a directive instructing all local authorities to write off rate payer’s debts. That injunction is the ghost haunting the RDC from the caves of Silozwane, Bambata and Nswatugi in the Matobo hills to Maphisa Township and the farming community.

Sibanda suggested that residents have since developed a culture of defaulting payment of rates in the hope that politicians will employ populism tactics during election season and coerce local authorities to write off debts. He added that it is imperative that Government comes up with a clear position on such issues well in advance so that rate payers do not anticipate any changes.

Such openness would encourage rate payers to remit bills on time so that council delivers services duly. Sibanda’s solution is to “engage the rate payers instead of employing debt collectors to deal with them.” He added that the RDC has since devised payment plans for residents and is happy that quite a number of them have honoured this pact.

Sibanda hopes to see the status of Matobo Rural District Council as local authority elevated in the next five years, in the same fashion as that of the local authority in Beitbridge. “We will graduate from a being a rural authority to being a town council very soon. We also hope that we will be more developed. That is our vision.”

Installation of water tanks for piped water scheme in Ratanyane Ward 4

Mini Profile

Area: 7,245 km² Density: 12.97/km² [2012] – Change: -0.60%/year [2002 → 2012] Elevation: 1,017 m Population: 99 723 Location: Matabeleland South Province, Zimbabwe Opportunities: : 1. Agriculture: Livestock 2. Mining: Gold 3. Toursim: 4. Construction & Real Estate: residential and commercial property Accomodation: 3 Star Hotel averaging US$92.Source: Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency