Prioritizing Political Banditry at the Expense of Good Governance: Rethinking Urban Governance in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Zimbabwe local government system between 1980 and the late 1990’s was robust and envied by many in Africa. However, the birth of multiparty democracy and the fight to remain dominant changed the political landscape and result in the recentralization of administrative authority and political power. Political banditry was still borne and was nurtured in various types of incubators until the year 2000 when the Zimbabwean urban communities begun to be victims of a system they failed to condemn at its adoption. The aim of the research is to describe the concept of political banditry, how it is experienced and its effects on the application of democratic good governance in Zimbabwe. Content review was complimented with primary data in this qualitative research. It was found out that political banditry is there and it is perpetrated through, political appointments, restructuring of local institutions, violence, political parties also are supporting informal violent interests groups and recentralization of administrative and political authority and power. The agony is that the urban communities have been marooned or raped by these political violence and administrative aptitudes. Urban communities now cannot tame the beast they helped to create over the years (political banditry). It was indicated that representative democracy seems to be a failure in Zimbabwe. The structures are there but they have been captured by political bandits to serve their individualistic interests. Representative democracy needs to be complimented by deliberation so that the people who own government and the ensuing democratic processes could be involved in determining and reviving the institutions, the will, the commitment and the application of democratic good governance in Zimbabwean urban areas.

Keywords: political banditry, governance, urban governance, urban councils governance