From Salisbury To Harare : The Geography Of Public Authority Finance And Practice Under Changing Ideological Circumstances

ABSTRACT

FROM SALISBURY TO HARARE : THE GEOGRAPHY OF PUBLIC AUTHORITY

FINANCE UNDER CHANGING IDEOLOGICAL CIRCUMSTANCES

This study is based on the assumption that money 'powers the

urban system'. Its focus is the geography of public finance in

Harare and ideologically inspired change in urban management.

The context is the changing circumstances attendant upon the

transfer of power from minority White settler colonial rule to

Black majority rule in Zimbabwe. The ruling ZANU-PF party

professed a continuing ideological commitment to the principles

of "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist" socialism. It was surmised that

application of these principles to the discharge of urban

management and to the provision of public goods and services by

a Black City Council would have· been reflected in changing

trends in the generation, allocation and distribution of public

funds. Expressed as an aphorism, the geography of public

finance investigates 'who gets what, where; who pays, who

benefits, who decides, . and who decides who decides' • These

issues are addressed in the present study.

Annual income and expenditure. on both capital and revenue

accounts for selected Council operations, were analysed in an

attempt to identify significant trends from 1978 to 1984.

Analytical methods include regression analysis, tests for

statistical significance, multi-variate analysis and shift-share

analysis. Local authority organisation and practice in colonial

Salisbury is described as a basis for the evaluation of changing

patterns of public service delivery after independence.

Perceptions of priority issues for the city's growth and

development were solicited from Councillors in a structured,

open-ended questionnaire, and Council by-laws were analysed for

evidence of change in the regulation and control of urban

activities.

Major findings include:-

1. that the accounting procedures employed by the City

Council are inappropriate for geographical analysis;

2. that the organisational structure and operational

procedures of the Council, particularly with respect to

urban finance remain virtually unchanged;

3. that the financial ·and other data provide evidence of

the reallocation and redistribution of public funds to

redress the colonial legacy of inequality; but

4. that fundamental structural· change consistent with

criteria indicating transition to a socialist urban

space-economy has not occurred.

Evidence is advanced in support of these conclusions and major

reasons are suggested.

Neil Dewar