Trouble for sitting MPs, councillors

“Manicaland stands out with its high disapproval rates for MPs (62 percent) and local councillors (58 percent), while Matabeleland North residents are least likely to complain about the performance of their local elected officials (31 percent for MPs, 27 percent for local councillors).

“Over the years, popular disapproval has usually been higher for MPs than for local government councillors, with gaps ranging up to 12 percentage points in 1999 and 7 points in 2017.

“The year 2012, which coincides with the tenure of the (inclusive Government), saw the lowest levels of disapproval for local elected officials.”

Research also concluded that Harare and Bulawayo are well below the national average for residents who feel they are listened to by their representatives.

Older and less-educated citizens, however, feel listened to by their representatives.

“Few Zimbabweans think their elected local officials listen to them. Only two out of 10 respondents (20 percent) say MPs ‘often’ or ‘always’ do their best to listen to citizens, while a majority say they ‘never’ listen (31 percent) or ‘only sometimes’ listen (38 percent).

“Similarly, only one in four respondents (25 percent) think local government councillors ‘often’ and ‘always’ listen.

“Rural residents are twice as likely as urbanites to perceive both groups of representatives as often and always doing their best to listen (31 percent vs 14 percent).

“Similarly, older and less-educated respondents are more likely to feel listened to than their younger and more-educated counterparts.

“Since these officials are elected on a partisan basis and the ruling Zanu-PF party holds a majority of seats, it is not surprising that respondents who identify as Zanu-PF supporters are more than three times as likely as MDC-T adherents to see MPs and local government councillors as willing to listen.

“But even among supporters of the ruling party, only about four in 10 think that MPs (37 percent) and local councillors (42 percent) listen to the people.”

According to the findings, only a third (33 percent) of respondents said they felt free to criticise their MPs, while 41 percent said the same about local councillors.

“Men, respondents with post-secondary qualifications and Zanu-PF supporters feel less constrained than women, respondents with less education and MDC-T adherents in expressing criticism of local elected representatives. But even among these less-constrained groups, about half say they feel “not very free” or “not at all free” to criticise.

“Among provinces, Midlands stands out: Eight out of 10 respondents (83 percent) say they feel unfree to criticise their MPs and local councillors.”