Zimbabwe sanctions: power games versus strong mindsets

Bernard Bwoni

His Excellency President Robert Mugabe reached yet another extraordinary milestone when he turned 91 years old on the 21^st February 2015. May I take this opportunity to wish him a happy birthday and wishing him many more years to come and conquer, and he is still as sharp as a needle. The outstanding son of Africa has stood the test of time and only a handful can say exactly the same. The man has put brakes on the imperialism carriage and has invite intrigue and interest from the erstwhile former colonisers and their allies. The man has shown the way and continues to show the way for real African political and economic freedom. President Mugabe has stood firm and continues to stand firm, he has stood side by side with the principles that helped liberate Zimbabwe and to date continues to stand by the very same principles. Here is a man who is demonized at home and away for the principles and policies he stands for that is total economic emancipation of the indigenous people of Zimbabwe and Africa at large.

Robert Mugabe has posed real questions to the economic status quo created by the architects of imperialism and colonization, and with all their resources the EU and USA have failed to respond to these critical questions. Their only response has been overt and covert coercion to discredit the potent Mugabe questions. The architects and perpetrators of the tripartite evils of slavery, colonization and apartheid have resorted to such measures as the illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. It is calculating and callous that the EU chose to announce that they would be maintaining the sanctions against Zimbabwe and President Mugabe on the eve of the President’s 21^st February Movement celebrations. That is devious, deceitful and downright dirty play. It is ridiculous that President Mugabe and Zimbabwe remains under any form of sanctions.

The EU and USA will always try to save face even if it means their callous actions of maintaining economic sanctions on Zimbabwe will further put yet more hardship burdens on the already economically downtrodden people of Zimbabwe. By removing the economic sanctions against Zimbabwe and President Mugabe, the EU and USA will be conceding defeat and the fact of the matter is that these two allies do not and never offer concessions but only condescendence. The sanctions against Zimbabwe the country and President Mugabe, the Head of State are meant to block any business dealings with the country in a bid to trigger unrest. The blockade of any meaningful economic activity with Zimbabwe has the intended aftermath of ordinary Zimbabweans suffering because of the impact of these sanctions and the only person they see as the cause of their economic misfortunes is the Head of State who happens to be President Mugabe. The ordinary man, woman and child is traumatised by the hard-hitting effects of these economic sanctions that they will persistently deny the existence of a hidden hand in their suffering from the designers of these immoral economic sanctions. The hard-hitting reality though is that these fraudulent economic sanctions are the sole cause of Zimbabwe’s economic reversal, everything else is a symptom and a by-product of the economic sanctions.

What confounds the EU and the USA is President Mugabe’s unique brand of politics beyond the colonial era imbued in economic emancipation of the previously disadvantaged and dispossessed indigene. This brand of post-colonial politics has been resonating well with other people on the African continent and the sanctions on Zimbabwe and President Mugabe are meant to warn all those African leaders who try to emulate Mugabe to steer clear of the Zimbabwe economic model of economic emancipation. The EU and USA are now beginning to play a waiting game which is their last remaining hope of defeating the Mugabe vision of economic freedom for the Zimbabwean indigene soon to be cascaded down continent wide. The idea of announcing the extension of the illegal and unprincipled economic sanctions on Zimbabwe and President Mugabe on the eve of his birthday is part of the game and the hope is that the end of President Mugabe is the end of the ideas of economic emancipation.

The former British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd once had this to say ‘The trouble with Mugabe is that he thinks like us’. The truth of the matter is that the EU and USA have no answers to Mugabe’s assertive brand of African liberation politics save for the use of sanctions regime to try and stifle the spread of the ideas. Mr Hurd seem to have been suggesting that it is a privilege to ‘think like them’ but that is to the contrary. Robert Mugabe only seek one thing and one thing only and that is to redress a historically skewed economic ownership pattern in Zimbabwe that was crafted by the colonial structure that existed before 1980.

Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe is a free country and there are no two ways about that. It is only the disconnected, disjointed and misguided social media delirious outcries of the ‘confused free’ claiming lack of freedom who think otherwise. These are the mixed-up individuals sprawling and spoiling the African Unity Square in their purblind quest for ‘freedoms’ they already have and enjoy. These are the same individuals who publicly claim to have haunted the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Chairperson Rita Makarau out of her office and they freely walked back to continue littering the beautiful Africa Unity Square with their pointless journey to nowhere. And all this is under Robert Mugabe! In Ferguson, USA these thugs would have been manhandled mercilessly but not in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.

In Zimbabwe there are those who subscribe to the Mugabe ideas and another group of those who are products of years of western media propaganda and conditioning. The latter group unfortunately and understandably has been left way too traumatised by the impact of the economic sanctions to see through these power games at play. It is not Robert Mugabe the flesh that is being kept under sanctions but the ideas he possesses and represents so that they do not spread throughout the African continent. These ideas pose a threat to western economic influence on the African continent. This is where it becomes a battle between the weak and strong mindsets. President Mugabe has shown mental stamina, the strong mindset to withstand the negative onslaught for years and now it is up to the coming generations to pick up the torch and carry forward with this Mugabe vision and see it through to its logical conclusion and ensure that the whole African continent aspire to the same. It is ideas that build national foundations and ideas do not stem from weak mindsets, and weak mindsets cannot see past the deceitful power games being played on the African continent. Ideas stem from strong mindsets and the ideas that have brought about the economic sanctions seek to empower ordinary indigenous people of Zimbabwe. The fact of the matter is that there is no other route to prosperity except for the Zimbabwe model of total economic emancipation and the freeing up of wealth that was previously a preserve of a minority.

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Africa's only hope is Zimbabwe's Land Reform Model

By Bernard Bwoni

A recent report by the Oakland Institute revealed that there are billionaires from the West who have been buying and grabbing land in Africa at a very concerning rate. These investors and hedge funders are reportedly paying next to nothing for these vast tracts of land in some African countries. This is a worrying trend and puts into context the Zimbabwe land policy and reform. Interestingly in South Africa in his State of the Nation address, President Zuma said that foreign nationals will not be allowed to own land in South Africa but will be for long-term lease only. The land reform debate in SA has been taking centre stage with the country exploring a 50-50 Policy framework on rights to people who live and work on farms. The Zimbabwe Land Reform programme is a beckon of hope for the historically and perennially disadvantaged and displaced Africans. Any other African country in the same predicament as Zimbabwe was before the land reform will have to go through the same mire and mud Zimbabwe went through to regain their land. It is such a shame that some African countries are relinquishing their God-given heritage for a few pieces of silver. Zimbabwe is a unique country and all the hard work was not for nothing. There is no other route to land reform in Africa except for the Zimbabwe Model. Anything else is child's play.

There is no universal definition of the term property rights as everyone has an opinion and vested interest in the matter. The definition can and has been evolving over time, thus considering different perspectives, the historical context and background underpinning the Zimbabwe land and property rights issue is necessary. Property rights are not absolute but just a function of what society is willing to acknowledge, defend and enforce. They may need to be adjusted at some point because they do not evolve optimally on their own. There is not enough empirical evidence in Zimbabwe of how the complex property rights package influences economic behaviour and as such those who remain fixated on property rights as the panacea to Zimbabwe’s economic woes are unreflective and insincere.

The Development Economist Daniel W. Bromley in his book, Environment and Economy: Property Rights and Public Policy, argued “property rights do not necessarily imply full ownership and the sole authority to use and dispose of a resource”. To be secure, property rights should be of a sufficient duration to allow one to reap the benefits of the investment and should be backed by an effective, socially sanctioned enforcement institution. Zimbabwe has in place ninety-nine year lease in place and that is “a sufficient duration” for anyone to benefit from their investment, case closed.

The relationship between the rights of the individual and the rights of the community has been constantly changing and without doubt will continue to evolve. We live in a complex and dynamic world where conventional wisdom can be overturned for the good of the majority and it is important to acknowledge that changes in theoretical views on property rights do take place. During the unrestrained land grab by the colonial settlers the rights of the individual settlers took precedence over the collective rights of the indigenous community and in the new Constitution the Zimbabwe government addressed those inequalities created by these historical interactions.

Much of the early property rights literature was quite optimistic about the evolution of property rights towards economic efficiency. The available literature indicate that property rights form the cornerstone of every Western country’s economic modernisation and Hernando De Soto even calls the system of legal property rights the ‘’hidden architecture of modern economies’’ and “if a developing country is willing to succeed economically, property rights which have to be well-defined must be enforced”. De Soto of course did not factor in China which “recognises the right to private property but only as a right bestowed by the state and not as a natural right’’. And, by the way China, is by far the fastest growing economy in the world and is poised to edge the USA as the biggest economy in the world by 2016 or so. My argument is that the property rights construct and debate in Africa was distorted by the colonialism and imperialism’s accumulative streak and that makes De Soto’s claim invalid in the African context.

Property rights are theoretical constructs in economics and the discourse needs to reflect that especially on a uniquely multiplex case like Zimbabwe. Property rights are formed and enforced by political entities and they reflect the historical context, the conflicting economic interests and the bargaining strength of those affected. They are the social institutions that define or delimit the range of privileges granted to individuals of specific scarce resources. In the modern economic literature the argument is that it makes sense to have secure property rights as it makes it easy to access finance and credit from financial institutions and promote sustainable development.

Some contemporary development economists have gone as far as stating that sustainable development will only come from stable property rights and that markets are less efficient when property rights do not exist. From a theoretical economic point of view that is true however complexities in different situations need to be acknowledged. There is an element of imperialism that has pervaded much of the discourse of property rights on Zimbabwe. I have looked into available literature on property rights on Zimbabwe and there is absolutely nothing and the question is how do you make recommendations without empirical evidence from realities on the ground?

Those who remained opposed to Zimbabwe’s land reform have argued that separation of provisions on property rights from rights over agricultural land is fatal as the section in the new Constitution on agricultural lands restricts thus running against natural justice. Chapter 4, Part 2, Section 72 of the Constitution points out that access to agricultural land is seen as a “fundamental right” and that “every citizen of Zimbabwe has a right to acquire, hold, occupy, use, transfer, hypothecate, lease or dispose of agricultural land regardless of his or her race or colour’’. The new Constitution also notes that following the colonial occupation and the triumphant liberation war “the people of Zimbabwe must be enabled to re-assert their rights and regain ownership of their land”. If you read the above clauses then the issue of secure property rights is not as contentious as some would want the world to believe. The land reform in Zimbabwe is irreversible, and that is fact. Property rights with regards to agricultural land fall within the limits set by the State to avoid abuse and the government has set up the Land Commission to address issues of abuse through a transparent land audit which is still pending, and this is all within the bounds of international law. Chapter 4, Part 2, section 71 of the new Constitution addresses the overall issue of property rights fairly and again in line with international law. The rights are extended to all people and the rights to compensation are recognised. However the issue of property of agricultural land needed to be and was addressed in line with the need to “redress the unjust and unfair pattern of land ownership that was brought about by colonialism”. Conventional economic wisdom tells you that economic progression is based on strong foundation of secure property ownership, but what it does not do is take into account complex interactions on the ground.

Chapter 4, Part 2, section 72 of the Constitution seeks to protect the continuing rights of persons currently occupying or using agricultural land under a lease or other agreement with government and states that the State must take appropriate measures ‘’to give security of tenure to every person lawfully owning or occupying agricultural land”. The Constitution states that, not all agriculture land will not be State land and “owners and occupiers will be allowed under the provisions and limits of the law to ‘transfer, hypothecate, lease or dispose of his or her right in agricultural land”. It is important to understand the fact that the property rights issue is insufficient in explaining why capitalism has succeeded in the West but failed dismally in other parts of the world.

The issue of property rights surely cannot be absolute without taking into consideration the realities on the ground. The choices we make today are often constrained by the decisions and actions of yesterday. History does matter and it is history that shapes our futures. The shifting relationships of property and property rights in the Zimbabwean context are contentious and as such it is important to adopt a historical outlook to it to garner a better understanding. The discourse around the issue of property rights needs to be reflective and all encompassing for better outcomes for all Zimbabweans.

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The Robert Mugabe ideas that know no African boundaries

By Bernard Bwoni

The incoming African Union Chairman, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is an extraordinary socio-political and economic Engineer and just what the continent needs and deserves right now. He has shouldered and continues to shoulder the burden of the African case with unparalleled resolve to see the continent achieve total economic emancipation and political independence. Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe has posed a real and direct threat to an economic system which only functions smoothly when resource-abundant African countries remain confined to the edges and the lower ranks of any meaningful global economic activity. This is the same economic system that flourished on the back of cheap slave labour and free resources during slavery and colonialism respectively. Robert Mugabe represents what can accurately be described as the last outpost and final frontier for genuine African Renaissance. The childish excitement that gripped social media about his trip on a poorly laid carpet and the associated media mass hysteria is not an attack on Mugabe the man per se, but Mugabe the ideas which resonate well in Africans continent-wide. President Mugabe assuming the AU Chairmanship poses a present and direct threat to covert imperialism and the threat exist not necessarily from Mugabe the man but the big ideas that he has instilled and continue to sow in present and future African generations. The attacks on Mugabe the man are a reaction to the AU Chairmanship because the principles he stands for will now cascade signals continent wide that the historically biased socio-economic structure can be challenged and dismantled by a united Africa. He represents real hope for total economic independence that is meaningful for present and future generations. It is important to emphasise the word ‘meaningful’ here and not the misleading narrative of political independence that most if not all countries on the continent had to settle for whilst neglecting real economic freedom. However no amount of tampering with media headlines will change the fact that Robert Mugabe is a visionary. This legendary son of Africa commands African respect from Cape to Cairo and the people of Africa are well aware of who their real heroes are. The Mugabe vision is not going to be derailed by a trip on a poorly laid carpet. Here is visionary who is leading Africa out of the racist ICC kangaroo court and coming up with the African engineered idea of an African court to deal with African affairs manned by Africans themselves not some fresh-faced condescending newly qualified lawyers who have never set foot on the continent!

The assault on the Mugabe ideas is clandestine affair engineered miles away from the continent with some misguided African elements and local cheerleaders doing the footwork under the gullible banner of all the hollow high-sounding themes of ‘human rights’, ‘legitimacy’ and ‘rule of law’. It is no longer just about Mugabe the man, but the deeper meaning behind Robert Mugabe’s call to not just settle for political independence but total economic emancipation. These are the values and principles that resonate with indigenous population in Zimbabwe and continent-wide. It is that belief and lifelong commitment to liberating the black indigene and that resolve to place African resources back into the hands of their rightful owners that invite the profound and unwarranted hatred from the coalition of the erstwhile architects of the twin wrongs of slavery and colonialism and their local lapdogs we have come to call the opposition.

President Mugabe has remained guided by those principles that put Africa ahead of all else and the frenzy that is sweeping across the African continent is a prelude to Africa’s reorganisation and re-emergence as the force it definitely is and should have been centuries ago had its development not been dislocated by the evils of slavery, imperialism, colonialism, apartheid and neo-colonialism. The African continent has to start serving divorce papers to the doomed marriage it continues to endure unnecessarily with her erstwhile colonisers and their allies. This marriage ended many years ago and in the case of Zimbabwe arms had to be used to get rid of this unfair and unfaithful partner. There is no point in sharing a bed with these strange bedfellows who you know for definite will easily knife you in your sleep for self-preservation and self-benefit at some point. This marriage is over and Africa is going to have to go it alone and those who seek to aid and assist will have to do so not to just exploit the continent’s abundant natural resources but to respect mutually beneficial engagement.

Robert Mugabe represents the unique brand of Pan-African cadres at the core of this conscious and principled pursuit of the African regeneration and renaissance. The African quest to seek divorce from the undignified one-sided and overly dependent union must not be viewed as pursuing an isolationist course but a positive move towards mutually favourable development partnerships. It would not be dishonest to suggest that partnerships with the West have been exclusively disastrous, their presence unfortunately has historically brought about conflict and chaos to the inhabitants of the continent and that cannot be an accident but carefully calculated to enable unrestrained exploitation of the continent’s abundant natural resources. There is nothing called charity in this world and my beautiful sister Dambisa Moyo put it aptly in her book ‘Dead Aid’.

The quest for genuine economic freedom for the continent will remain ingrained in this generation and many generations to come unless these historically and racially skewed constructs which continue to relegate black Africans to the bottom of the economic core are dismantled completely. The illusion that once people have ‘food on the table’ then the agitation will stop is just but what it is - an illusion. The very reason why President Mugabe’s name is synonymous with the ‘international media’ as the sole cause of Zimbabwe’s economic downturn is a direct assault and attempt to extinguish the visionary flame he set in Zimbabwe and across the continent. The people of Zimbabwe and Africa subscribe to this vision and what they all see in the Mugabe vision is the very same thing those who went into social media mass meltdown mode see as well. The difference is that those who despise President Mugabe do so because his vision is running opposite to their exploitation-packaged ideologies. It is interesting to note that our beautiful neighbours to the south are mulling over the idea of a fast track land reform. The Zimbabwe land reform programme is a beckon of hope for those indigenous black Africans that history has forever forsaken to a lifestyle of poverty inside a resource-abundant continent like Africa. South Africa will have to go through the mire and mud Zimbabwe went through to wrestle her lands from a system that only seek to preserve itself for the benefit a minority on racial grounds. The fact of the matter is that there is no other route to land reform in Africa except for the Zimbabwe Model. Anything else is child’s play!

The newly elected AU Chairman is taking Africa on a journey, an African journey that is and a journey that requires Africans and them alone to carry forward the vision. There are plenty illusory promises from ‘Dead Aid’; but the hard truth is that Africa is going to walk this path alone as there are no philanthropic champions out who have no self-serving motives of their own.

The social media regurgitation of the Mugabe trip is non-event and the clear message from the African continent is that no amount media fabrication will smother this unavoidable desire to uplift and upgrade the lives of the perennially downtrodden people of this continent. The unrelenting and unethical denigration of Mugabe the man is just a smokescreen to choke the Mugabe ideas of total economic independence which are aimed at making the continent less dependent on the West for her survival. The fact of the matter is that the Mugabe ideas are here to stay. These are ideas that know no boundaries and they will continue to arouse curiosity and interest in African minds, to challenge and to provoke minds of the historically deprived indigene until lives have been enhanced and upgraded. You can put as many trending fall pictures on Twitter but you cannot shackle the seed that has been sown by these limitless Mugabe ideas. These are ideas beyond any restraint; these are ideas that can penetrate through any exploitation-packaged ideologies that are being perilously dangled to Africa by the former colonisers as democracy promotion, rule of law and rights and all those high-sounding nothings minus the grit and hard realities on the African ground. The Mugabe ideas have found a permanent home in African minds and now the execution begins. The new AU Chairman is going to leave a permanent mark on the continent. You cannot put sanctions on ideas because these are African ideas from the African continent, for the African continent and the African off-springs.

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ZANU-PF: Signing, sealing and delivering the 2018 election victory

By Bernard Bwoni

It is well and fine to create your own little green space, a little paradise for yourself and an oasis in the middle of raging waters but the fact of the matter is that your individual comfort will always be under threat from collective misery. The Rhodesians did it until cumulative deprivation of the majority dismantled the biased construct. It is better to create a comfortable space for collective benefit, a place of aesthetics and beauty, a place for everyone to enjoy and be prepared to defend for continued aggregate benefit. The government of Zimbabwe has been proactive and progressive in laying the foundations for the country’s reorganisation following years of external and internal obstructions. The focus has been people-centred policies and that is policies for undivided societal gains. That is the key to silencing all those perennial naysayers of government and government policy through effective implementation and delivery. Professor Jonathan Moyo was on point when he recently stressed the importance of service delivery and implementing the objectives of ZIMASSET as the key to countering those who had been working clandestinely and in cohort with external elements to unconstitutionally unseat President Mugabe. That is the only way to upgrade the lives of the ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe and rebuffing those who have been working tirelessly to derail Zimbabwe’s economic revolution. Zimbabwe under the astute stewardship of President Mugabe has weathered the storm and there is clear awareness that the only defence against such attacks and the surest way towards another landslide victory in 2018 is through good public services in place for people.

The government has continued prioritising civic services, welfare services, human development services and provision of basic minimum services amid very difficult micro and macroeconomic conditions. This is not rocket science; the people of Zimbabwe have been embracing government initiatives because they seek to empower and ameliorate citizens’ lives. The priority has been clean, constant and consistent water supplies, improved sanitation and roads rehabilitation. New pumps were recently installed at the Morton Jaffray Water Treatment and most are beginning to feel the benefits of such service delivery initiatives. Amid the never ending negative onslaught the government has continued to have that bona fide raison d’être to the welfare of the people and the development of Zimbabwe through public service delivery. The paper that ZIMASSET is written on has to translate into tangible activity on the ground for the benefit of ordinary men and women on the street. Hence the urgent need to harness and involve all stakeholders and the starting point should be the development of partnerships, mobilisation of all civil society groups, the realignment of the frustrating bureaucratic bottlenecks and the use of ICT as a potential tool for effective public service delivery.

There has been a people-centred service delivery approach where the new relationship between the government and the citizens has become that of provider and recipient of the public service. The 2018 election is safely in the bag once these service delivery strategies go into full swing and people have a clear awareness of their existence. There is need for education and information on these initiatives. The government doing a lot of hard ground work in terms of infrastructure development and delivery of services yet there is a lack of clarity on such and citizens continue to lament the lack of such because of lack of information. There are many developments happening in Zimbabwe as we speak but unfortunately these have not been effectively and clearly presented to the public. The citizens of Zimbabwe have basic rights to expect to receive high quality public services and the government of Zimbabwe does listen to the people on a broad scale, but there is need for the authorities to start narrowing it down to the barebones of people-centred. It has to start with listening to the people and modifying services accordingly to the needs of the people. The government as the service provider acts as trouble-shooters and should effectively and timely respond to complaints and continually seek feedback and evaluate own strategies for service provision to continually improve the service being provided. The citizens of Zimbabwe have to be involved in the monitoring process and these are nitty-gritty’s of effective public service delivery.

There are some unsustainable inequalities in the country as a whole and a good example is the divide between the northern and southern, low density and high density residential locations which existed before independence and still persist today. The low density areas seem to enjoy way better services than their high density counterparts who are mostly densely populated and thus in more urgent need of services. If you travel around Glen Lorne, Greendale, Mount Pleasant, Borrowdale and others you find the roads are in better shape than Mbare, Mufakose, Glen Norah, Tafara, Budiriro and others. The low density areas are generally cleaner and there is less dumping in public spaces. The government should thus focus on the poor and disadvantaged citizens to the extent of affirmative action and positive discrimination in terms of service delivery in favour of those previously and perpetually marginalised groups. There is need for conscious and deliberately planned outreach to target the more disadvantaged in the cities and rural areas.

The provision of basic services is recognised within the Zimbabwe Constitution and this should be built around high standards of integrity in the country's institutions. There is need for better and clear information dissemination and the strengthening of the country's public institutions. Weak public institutions will yield poor public services. What Professor Moyo was alluding to is that the continuous improvement of methods, processes and standards of high quality service delivery should form part of the ruling party's election campaign. This is no longer about saying what people want to hear a few weeks before the elections but actually focusing on what people need in the long run. This is about incorporating service delivery into the day to day running of government. Street lighting should be working uninterrupted unless it is forces of nature, roads should be constructed and maintained, potholes addressed on an ongoing basis, clean and consistent running water, hospitals working at normal capacity, good and affordable schools and support for those who are unemployed. The government has to be commended for tackling some of those niggling public service delivery issues under the tight fiscal constraints.

The ruling party has the tools and strategies in place and has started putting these into practice. The emphasis should be on simplification of rules, reducing redundant multifaceted levels of decision making and greater delegation of authority to the levels that actually deliver on the ground. The result based management system should be implemented fully and there should be follow-up right down to the bottom end of the structure. The buck stops with the senior management and if there is a dislocation in terms of service delivery then the management is not fit for purpose and in need of replacement. The senior management in service delivery has to be accountable to both government and citizens of Zimbabwe. They should be emphasising capacity building to upgrade skills, to change attitudes and improve performance. The idea is to first and foremost reduce or remove completely the bottlenecks and bureaucracies, reduce waiting times, simplify forms and processes, provide information and make it easier for citizens to get that information, create hotlines for service delivery and complaints or compliments.

The senior management should be offloading unhelpful and unfriendly personnel to ensure that service is delivered according to promises made, that waiting times are as short as possible. The classic case of poor service delivery in Zimbabwe is the installation of electricity in newly built dwellings. It takes forever get electricity into your home unless if a bribe is paid. This is a basic right of every citizen of Zimbabwe to have electricity but the power companies make the lives of citizens unbearable. The red tape, the bribery and lack of transparency and accountability in certain institutions has eroded the trust citizens have in government ability to deliver good quality services.

Any incremental improvement in public services will positively impact on many citizens and that translate to even more votes in 2018. Innovation and continuous improvement are the hallmarks of sustainable public sector transformation and the country is beginning to see some of the benefits. There is need to reshape public services to make them more flexible, responsive to the needs of the people and more effective by removing unnecessary red tape and duplication in planning and delivery. The complex and confusing landscape of the corrupt and inefficient public sector organisations has to be simplified and make for easy access to services for all.

The government should terminate any activities that have stopped contributing to the public purpose, remove all organisational barriers detrimental to service delivery, simplify structures to streamline decision making and increase transparency. Service delivery costs money, we are talking of money the government does not really have and as such should remain frugal. Government should look into bringing together organisations with similar skills, expertise and processes to achieve greater effectiveness, economies of scale and removal of duplicated functions and powers. And after that 2018 is yet another walk in the park.

#Bhora mberi ne service delivery#

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