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JOURNAL OF UWC FACULTY OF LAW | ISSN 2077-4907 | Short URL www.ldd.org.za

Supervision of local government in Zimbabwe: The travails of mayors, pgs 44-67

Volume: Volume 23 - 2019

Article type: Refereed article

Author/s: Chigwata, Tinashe Carlton; Marumahoko, Sylvester; and Madhekeni, Alois

The discourse on decentralisation theoretically supports central government supervision of local government. The exercise of such powers by the central government of Zimbabwe is mired in controversy. Mayors are often suspended and/or dismissed to safeguard so-called "public interests". In particular, those who are from the opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Change, have been greatly affected in this regard.

The supervisory interventions of the Zimbabwe African National Unity-Patriotic Front led national (central) government have raised questions about the very existence of local democracy and the parameters within which supervision should be implemented. The inadequacy of the laws regulating central supervision over local government and, in some cases, the blatant disregard of such laws by the supervising authority have left mayors vulnerable to arbitrary suspensions and/or dismissal. Such interventions have been motivated mainly by sinister political objectives rather than a genuine desire to improve local governance. A case study methodology focusing on the supervision of mayors in Zimbabwe since independence has been adopted.

About the author/s

Tinashe Carlton Chigwata

Tinashe Carlton Chigwata is a researcher at the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights at the University of the Western Cape. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1313-2216

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Alois Madhekeni

Alois Madhekeni is a lecturer at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies of University of Zimbabwe. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5242-1016

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Sylvester Marumahoko

Sylvester Marumahoko is a researcher at the School of Postgraduate Studies, Research and Innovation of the University of Johannesburg. https://Orcid.org/0000-0001-8256-8828

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