The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa Post Correspondent
THE Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Cde Mandi Chimene, has castigated district administrators who create a rift between themselves and the communities they serve by living in urban areas and not going to meet the people and addressing them on developmental issues.
Minister Chimene was addressing stakeholders attending the Manicaland Dialogue Meeting on Community Benefit Schemes and the roles and responsibilities by local leaders on governance and management of natural resources in their localities organised by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) in Mutare yesterday .
Minister Chimene reminded DAs that they were the communities’ ambassadors so they were expected to champion the people’s interests. She also challenged ZELA to be registered as a development partner with the province and not operate without clearly defined parameters.
“You should register with the province because the DA won’t interact and associate with you legally and having a deed only as you profess is not enough but you should give credentials to the relevant authorities and not ignore protocol,” she warned.
Minister Chimene’s diatribe was in reponse to complaints by community members that DAs were not giving them feedback on developmental issues even if there was something happening in terms of infrastructural or economic development in their districts.
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Some DAs, it was observed, sit on community share ownership trust boards but did not apprise people of what was going on in terms of sharing benefits.
Additionally, Minister Chimene challenged DAs to avoid being partisan in their discharge of duty saying they were there to represent the interests of all people under their jurisdiction regardless of their different political affiliations.
“Don’t politicise everything and attack all situations from a political angle. The co-existence of Government and the community should not be sour only because you did not vote it (Government) into power,” said Cde Chimene.
