In its 2021 Citizens’ Perceptions and Expectations Survey report, SIVIO Institute analyses the perceptions of Zimbabweans towards the performance of both central and local government and explores how citizens can participate in government processes. Read on to be informed!
As a nation, Zimbabwe is grappling with multifaceted challenges mainly stemming from the political and economic crises, which in turn, have a bearing on governance, democracy and the standards of policy reforms. Partisan based polarisation continues to be one of the most significant challenges that have hindered the prospects of securing a consensus on the national question. The situation has been worsened by an increasing number of corruption allegations amongst officeholders, unending rumours of squabbles amongst political leaders in the two major political parties, failure of social service delivery and a pervasive atmosphere characterised by discontent and unhappiness across society.
The state-citizens relationship seems to be dominated by a culture of disengagement and distrust. With the country seemingly in a perpetual elections mode, democracy has become synonymous solely with elections. Even the Government of Zimbabwe’s vision for democracy as captured in its Vision 2030 strategic development, only makes reference to holding free and fair elections. This implies that democracy can only be attained if the country is able to hold free and fair elections. Democracy cannot be understood outside the delivery of equally important social services such as public health, affordable housing, provision of clean water and road maintenance. Yet, in contemporary Zimbabwe, these services have been heavily compromised.
It isagainst this background that we sought to gather evidence on citizens’ perceptions and expectations of their central and local government. The study shows a cross section of views from the intricately linked lenses of employment status, gender and age, and presents data on citizens’ participation in public policy processes, their assessments of the government, local service delivery, government priorities and their perceptions of government achievements.
Read the full report here (2MB PDF)
Source: SIVIO
