Survey on Local Governance & Constitutionalism
Zimbabwe
[insert manual title] [continue the title]
A Zimbabwean needs and
International Republican Institute Public Opinion Poll Research Series
[insert manual title]International Republican
Survey on Local Governance & Constitutionalism
Zimbabwe
[insert manual title] [continue the title]
A Zimbabwean needs and
[insert manual title] [continue the title]
International Republican Institute Public Opinion Poll Research Series
Survey on Local Governance & Constitutionalism Copyright © 2015 International Republican Institute. All rights reserved. Portions of this work may be reproduced and/or translated for non-commercial purposes provided IRI is acknowledged as the source of the material and is sent copies of any translation. Send copies to:
Attention Communications Department International Republican Institute 1225 Eye Street NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20005 [email protected] Cover photograph by Douglas Coltart. Disclaimer: This report is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency. Special thanks to Target Research and Bryan M. Sims for the efforts reflected in this report.
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Table of Contents I. Main Findings 9
II. Background 11
III. Objectives 13
IV. Methodology 15
V. Research Results 19
Demographic Profile of Respondents 19
Use of Media, Technology and Attendance at Community Meetings 23
VI. Service Delivery Issues 27
Most Important Service Delivery Issues Facing Zimbabwe 27
Explaining Poor Service Delivery and Identifying Responsible Parties 28
Ease of Obtaining Birth Certificate and National Identity Card 32
VII. Roles, Responsibilities and Citizens’ Participation 33
Persons or Institutions Approached for Support, Advice or Resolution 33 of Problems
Zimbabweans’ Desirable Credentials for Local Leaders 35
Citizens’ Duties to Participate in Various Activities and Fora 36
Zimbabweans’ Participation in Their Communities 37
Communication between Zimbabweans and Their Leaders 40
VIII. Relationships with Local Government 45
Perceptions Regarding Responsibilities of Institutions and Persons 45
Satisfaction with Performance of Institutions and Persons 47
IX. Women and Youth in Decision-Making 53
Involvement of Women in Decision-Making and Leadership Positions 53
Involvement of Youth in Decision-Making and Leadership Positions 54
X. Dispute Resolution 57
Persons or Institutions Most Trusted to Resolve Economic Disputes 57
Persons or Institutions Most Trusted to Resolve Politically-Related Disputes 57
XI. Livelihoods 59
XII. The New Constitution of Zimbabwe 69
Awareness and Sources of Awareness of the Constitution 69
Awareness of Sources of Information on the Constitution 71
Participation by Zimbabweans in the Development of the Constitution 71
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Education on, and Comprehension of, the Constitution 72
Perceptions of, and Adherence to, the Constitution 73
Appendix I: Questionnaire 79
Appendix II: Sampling 111
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List of Tables Table 1: Distribution of respondents by province 19
Table 2: Age groups 19
Table 3: Proportions of respondents living in urban areas, by age, group and sex 20
Table 4: Methods of communication with leaders and groups in the past two years 41
Table 5: Responsibilities of local government 46
Table 6: Perceptions of elected councilors 50
Table 7: Perceptions of traditional leaders 51
Table 8: Perceptions of ward and village development committee members 52
Table 9: Perceptions of residents' associations 52
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List of Figures Figure 1a: Education level attained by urban and rural Zimbabweans 21
Figure 1b: Education level attained by men and women 22
Figure 2: Media exposure 23
Figure 3a: Urban and rural Zimbabweans who use/watch/listen/read at 24 least once a day
Figure 3b: Urban and Rural Zimbabweans who never use/watch/listen/ 24 read once a day
Figure 4a: Main service delivery problems among Zimbabweans 27
Figure 4b: Main service delivery problems among urban Zimbabweans 28
Figure 4c: Main service delivery problems among rural Zimbabweans 28
Figure 5: Perceptions of poor service delivery and responsible parties 30-31
Figure 6: Seeking assistance, advice or resolution of problems 34
Figure 7: Preference of liberation credentials, by province 36
Figure 8: Perceptions of citizen’s civic duties 37
Figure 9: Regularity of participation in community discussions or 38 decision-making
Figure 10: Perceptions voting can influence decision-making 40
Figure 11: Satisfaction with performance of local leaders and institutions 48
Figure 12: Perceptions of women leaders 54
Figure 13: Perceptions of youth 55
Figure 14a: Perceptions of the economy 59
Figure 14b: Perceptions of current living standards 60
Figure 14c: Perceptions of the economy since the end of the GNU 61
Figure 14d: Perceptions of current living standards since the end of the GNU 61
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Figure 14e: Prediction of the economy on the next 12 months 62
Figure 14f: Prediction of personal economic situation in the next 12 months 63
Figure 15: Which way is Zimbabwe headed 64
Figure 16: Primary reasons Zimbabwe is headed in the right direction 65
Figure 17: Primary reasons Zimbabwe is headed in the wrong direction 66
Figure 18: Importance of democracy versus prosperity 67
Figure 19: Percentage of Zimbabweans aware of the new constitution, by province 70
Figure 20: Sources of awareness of the constitution 71
Figure 21: Respondents who know and understand specific 74 elements of the constitution
Figure 22: Perceptions of the constitution 75
Figure 23a: Perceptions as to whether the constitution is respected 76 and adhered to
Figure 23b: How authority should be exercised 77
Figure 23c: How decision-making should be exercised 78
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Foreword Since 1993, the International Republican Institute (IRI) has been working to identify and expand space in Zimbabwe for democracy, civil rights and more citizen-responsive government. While this has been challenging on many levels, we believe that we have been able to make modest progress in our work to assist marginalized groups and basic governing institutions. Most recently, we teamed up with local elected officials to foster more objective discourse with citizens on issues of good governance. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe was once considered a pillar of the southern Africa region. It was (and is) rich in natural resources, and a major agricultural producer. Under President Mugabe, the country has suffered enormously and the consequences have affected the entire region. Among other things, state sanctioned violence and a failing economy have combined to drive approximately one-third of Zimbabweans out of the country, with neighboring Botswana, South Africa and Zambia bearing the brunt of the costs. All of us hope that Zimbabwe will one day reach the potential that so many pointed to years ago. Under the right conditions, the long suffering people of Zimbabwe can perhaps find the opportunity they deserve. Just as importantly, let’s hope they will be able to find a seat at the governing table – and an opportunity to shape their own future and recapture the country’s great promise. We hope that the information presented in this national survey will better enable Zimbabwean political and civil society stakeholders to make or influence policy decisions based on citizen identified needs and demands. Further, we hope that the survey results will strengthen the Zimbabwean government’s nominal attempts to institutionalize democratic principles in practice and reinforce a new democratic ethos. This poll attempts to measure the thoughts and beliefs of average Zimbabweans so that their elected officials, as well as local and traditional leaders, may have a better understanding of citizen concerns on a range of topics. We also explore the issue of constitutionalism and how Zimbabweans understand - and can better embrace - the principles stated in their constitution. While Zimbabwe has a long way to go in crafting a democratic path, IRI remains committed to providing the people of Zimbabwe with some of the democratic tools they will need along the way. While the challenges of working in Zimbabwe are numerous and complex, we believe it is worth the time and effort. A strong, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe could do so much for the people of that beautiful country and the rest of the region. Mark Green, President International Republican Institute Ambassador and Congressman (Ret.)
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I. Main Findings Service Delivery in Zimbabwe Identification documents, especially birth certificates, are essential for citizens to have access to public services in Zimbabwe. Fifty-five percent of respondents reported that it is easy (14 percent said very easy, 41 percent easy) to obtain a birth certificate, while 38 percent report it to be a difficult exercise (14 percent very difficult and 24 percent, difficult), with seven percent not knowing, having never tried. Two-thirds of respondents reported that it is easy (47 percent said very easy, 20 percent easy) to obtain a national identity card; 30 percent perceive it to be difficult to do so (10 percent very difficult and 20 percent difficult), with three percent not knowing, having never tried. Those in rural areas find it more difficult to get either a birth certificate or national identity card (42 percent and 32 percent said it was difficult, respectively) than do those in urban areas (29 percent and 24 percent respectively). Nationally, the two most important service delivery issues to emerge were (1) the poor state of the country’s infrastructure, roads mentioned in particular (33 percent), and (2) a lack of water (28 percent), closely followed by the lack of clean water (12 percent). For those in urban areas, a lack of water ranks as the most important problem (39 percent), followed by poor refuse collection and waste disposal (26 percent), and then closely by load shedding (power outages; 25 percent). In rural areas, Zimbabweans are most concerned about poor infrastructure (36 percent), the lack of water (23 percent) and insufficient agricultural support and advice (21 percent). Women, as opposed to men, cite a lack of clean water as their number one service delivery problem (10 percent versus seven percent). Men predominantly highlighted poor infrastructure among the top three problems (47 percent), versus women (40 percent). These were the only two significant differences evident between women and men’s responses. Perceptions of, and Engaging Local Leaders Elected councilors are more often accorded with being accessible to the public and working for the collective good than not. The proportion that believe they are not working for the good of the common people is, at 40 percent, substantial, as is the proportion (31 percent) that do not believe that elected officials are honest. Significantly more people disagree than agree that elected councilors have impacted their lives in a positive way. Zimbabweans living in rural areas showed more interest in participating in community discussions or decision-making (90 percent) forums than those in urban areas (79 percent). However, 66 percent said that they knew how to participate in such discussions or decisions. Eighty-five percent said that they felt they could participate freely in such forums, while 79 percent believe that people do or would respect and listen to their opinions.
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Women and Youth as Local Leaders More than two-thirds agreed that women are adequately represented in decision-making, make good leaders and have the same opportunities for promotion as men; 62 percent believe that a woman could be elected as president. Further, when asked who they would vote for if two candidates were equal, other than that one was a man and one a woman, similar proportions selected a man (39 percent) or a woman (37 percent), while 22 percent stated that it made no difference. Fifty-five percent of respondents believed that politicians do not listen to the needs and ideas of youth. Liberation Credentials Thirty percent of Zimbabweans prefer their local traditional leaders, and 27 percent prefer their locally elected leaders, to have liberation credentials (that is, to have been involved in the country’s liberation struggle until it attained independence in 1980). Measuring Constitutionalism in Zimbabwe Although 70 percent of respondents were aware of the new constitution, only 28 percent of these had been educated on the values and contents of the new constitution. Fifteen percent of respondents knew where to go to learn about the new constitution, most often citing government ministries, parliament, the police or elected officials (87 percent). Respondents were asked to name the most important things in the new constitution:
• Women’s rights and gender equality (19 percent) – with no difference between men and women;
• Freedom of worship (12 percent); • Children’s rights (nine percent); • Right to education (eight percent); • Human rights (eight percent); • Right to justice (seven percent) • Right to vote (seven percent); and • At four percent each, freedom of expression, right to land and the forbidding of
homosexuality.
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II. Background Since independence, the Zimbabwean government has stated that the purpose of local government is to create participatory and democratically elected structures that identify and ensure the provision of services. However, local government has never been autonomous from national government, and consequently, never been independent from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)1. ZANU-PF’s capture of state structures and resources has embroiled Zimbabwe in a complex and protracted political crisis with cycles of state-sponsored violence that has engendered poverty and economic collapse. Zimbabwe’s political crisis has also entrenched high levels of patronage, clientalism and a skills deficit throughout all levels of government. Today Zimbabwe is at another critical juncture. The overall political environment remains polarized, and local governments face significant challenges to restoring the delivery of services, and generating the revenue to support these services, while facing increasing demands and a crisis of confidence and expectations among constituents. Nearly two years after the July 2013 election that brought an end to the Government of National unity (GNU) and propelled ZANU-PF into a parliamentary super-majority with President Robert Mugabe at the helm for a seventh term, Zimbabweans are on the verge of facing another economic crisis and a renewed cycle of political violence as deep fissures emerge within and between ZANU-PF and opposition parties. Reinforcing local government structures as participatory and inclusive decision-making institutions is a critical step that must be taken toward reinforcing democratic and economic stability and equality. Furthermore, Zimbabwe’s new constitution, a product of a long consultative process in which Zimbabweans sought to determine their own destinies, offers an opportunity for citizens to recast state-citizen and citizen-citizen relations by changing the ownership structure and culture of local government. In a radical departure from the Lancaster House Constitution, the new constitution enshrines new social, economic and cultural rights that can further advance the interests of Zimbabweans. The baseline data gathered as a result of this national survey seeks to deepen our understanding of how Zimbabweans’ perceive, relate and adhere to the new constitution and its fundamental principles and values that will guide Zimbabweans for generations to come. On its own, the adoption of the new constitution does not guarantee an expansion of rights or deepening of values and principles such as respect for the rule of law, separation of powers, or good governance; successful transformation of Zimbabwean society depends on how citizens understand and apply the principles of their constitution. It with these concerns in mind that IRI commissioned this survey. We hope that the data presented here further assists meaningful engagement by Zimbabweans and interested stakeholders in the country’s continuing transition.
1 Chakaipa, S., 2010, ‘Local Government Institutions and Elections’, in J. Visser, N. Steytler, & N. Machingauta (eds.), Local Government Reform in Zimbabwe: a policy dialogue, pp. 1-30, University of the Western Cape, Belleville; Sims, B., 2013, Conceptualising Local Government: local perceptions on devolution and participation in Zimbabwe, Idasa, Pretoria.
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III. Objectives The objectives of this public opinion survey are to: 1) Develop a more comprehensive picture of citizen priority issues as well as their desired corresponding solutions. 2) Identify citizens’ perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of locally-elected councilors and traditional leaders with regard to local governance. Additional attention was paid to perceptions about women and youth in local leadership positions. 3) Identify methods of participation in relation to issues and needs. For example, which issues are raised with locally-elected councilors rather than traditional leaders? The aim is to identify cultural sensitivities in order to strengthen local leaders and tailor policy needs. 4) Establish a baseline that will discern Zimbabwean’s attitudes and understanding of the new constitution. For example, following the constitutional referendum, national elections and end of the power-sharing government, do Zimbabweans still consider the constitution a legitimate document? Do Zimbabweans relate the constitution to their everyday lives, and, if so, how?
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IV. Methodology
Five teams, each composed of a supervisor, a driver (where necessary, if the supervisor was not a driver) and between four and six enumerators, who each conducted between one and three interviews per starting point, to complete a cluster of ten interviews per point, were assembled for this survey. Interviewers were trained from December 17-19, 2014 and fieldwork commenced on December 20, 2014 through to January 23, 2015. One thousand two hundred fifteen respondents (aged 18 years and older) were sampled for this survey2, 60 percent (720) of them in urban areas and 40 percent (480) in rural areas. The actual proportion of Zimbabweans who live in urban and rural areas, based on the 2012 census figures, is 33:67 percent, respectively, but a deliberate disproportionate sample was employed to account for the greater level of heterogeneity that is typically observed in the urban areas, which justifies a larger sample size to contain sampling error. The data was weighted at analysis to account for this disproportionate sampling, such that results given in this report reflect the actual proportion of the population living in urban areas. During fieldwork a small number of problems were encountered when police and Central Intelligence Office agents intercepted and interrogated the teams or individual members of the teams; however in all these cases the work in the area had already been completed and the teams involved managed to move out of the areas with no loss or confiscation of data, and with no substitution of sampling points being required as a result of these incidents. Sampling points were selected in the following manner3:
(i) The number of interviews to be conducted in rural areas in each province was
calculated based on population proportional to size and the number of starting
points equated by dividing this number by ten, and rounding it up or down to the
nearest five. The rural districts within each province were then selected based on
PPS.
(ii) The same as (i) above was done with respect to the urban areas, in each province.
(iii) A random number between one and ‘n’ was selected within each district (where
‘n’ equals the total number of people in that district, based on 2012 census
figures). The ward in which the random number fell (i.e. the ‘n-th’ population
member) was selected as the ward for the first starting point in the district. In the
event that there was more than one sampling point in a district, a sampling
interval was then calculated (total population for the district / number of starting
2 The intent was to survey 1,200 respondents, but sampling points (clusters of 10 interviews) were rounded to the nearest half point, thus the final sample was 1,215. 3 See sampling by province in Appendix II.
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points) and added to the random number selected to select the next starting point
in the district, and so on, to identify the wards for each starting point.
(iv) Random numbers were then generated within the range of latitudes and
longitudes for the wards selected, to identify actual starting points. The village or
house closest to this point represented the starting point. If a starting point
proved to be inaccessible or not relevant to the study, for example, if it was in a
national park, an institution such as a school, military barracks, prison or hospital,
supervisors selected the closest starting point that was accessible.
(v) A random walk was then employed by the research team in order to select
households to interview at each starting point. The supervisor instructed each
member of the research team to go in a different and in a particular direction (e.g.
north-east, south-west) and to sample the first house while walking in that
direction, and to then to continue in the same direction, skip ten houses (in urban
areas) or five houses (in rural areas) and conduct subsequent interviews using
this skip pattern. In sparsely populated areas, the supervisor had the authority to
amend the skip pattern but recorded this on the sample frame.
(vi) A quota was employed such that half the interviews were with men and half with
women (of at least 18 years of age). Thus, at every second point, the supervisor
ensured that three interviews were done with men and two with women, and at
alternate points, three with women and two with men. Each enumerator was told
whether they were to interview a man or a woman for each of the questionnaires
allocated to them per sampling point. Selection of the man or woman to interview
was conducted as follows: enumerators listed the names of all men (or women) in
the household aged at least 18 years who slept in the household the previous night
and who were expected to do so the following night (the night following the
interview). The enumerator then asked to interview the one whose name came
last in the alphabet based on the first letter/s of their name. If the person thus
selected was not at home enumerators went to the next-door household (going in
the same direction away from the starting point) and repeated the exercise. Call-
backs were not conducted as the content of the questionnaire was sensitive and
research teams were instructed to complete a point and move from the area in the
shortest possible time as a risk mitigation strategy. In the event a refusal was
encountered, substitution was carried out in the same manner as was done if the
selected respondent was not at home.
Interviews were conducted with the respondent in private without other people observing (exceptions include babies or very young children who were being cared for by the respondent). Enumerators administered the questionnaire in the language preferred by the respondent.
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In order to protect respondents’ identities, but to allow supervisors and project managers to conduct their usual checks for quality assurance purposes, enumerators recorded all details of contacts made (refusals, substitutions and successful interviews) on coded contact sheets that they were taught how to use, that allowed project staff to link questionnaires to respondents, but that would not have allowed other persons to do this. A code frame was developed to handle responses to open-ended questions, and the questionnaires were checked and coded before being input using the CSPro data entry package. Each questionnaire was entered twice, each time by a different data entry clerk, and the two data sets were compared and used to clean the data set. Once clean, it was exported to SPSS which was used for analysis of the data. The data was weighted to account for the disproportionate sampling of urban to rural areas, to reflect the actual proportion of 67 percent rural, 33 percent urban based on the Zimbabwean 2012 census figures. The data was cross-analyzed by the following variables, significance tests were carried out to examine differences observed between different sub-groups of respondents and the resulting analysis tables informed this report: Sex of respondent;
Age group of respondent;
Location (urban/rural);
Province;
Main home language of respondent;
Educational level of respondent; and
Occupation of respondent.
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V. Research Results Demographic Profile of Respondents The profile of respondents described below is based upon the weighted data, accounting for the disproportionate sampling or urban: rural Zimbabweans. Once weighted, 67 percent of the data represented Zimbabweans living in the rural areas of Zimbabwe, as per the data presented in the 2012 Zimbabwean census. The distribution by province is shown below in Table 1. Table 1: Distribution of respondents by province (Percentage)
Province Urban areas
(n=398) Rural areas
(n=817) Total Sample Size
(weighted)
Harare 96 4 205 Bulawayo 100 0 63 Mashonaland Central
5 95 107
Mashonaland West 24 76 134 Mashonaland East 8 92 129 Midlands 26 74 148 Masvingo 8 92 137 Manicaland 15 85 159 Matabeleland North 12 88 67 Matabeleland South 12 88 67 ALL 33 percent 67 percent 1,215
By design, half the sample was men and half women, and this proportion did not change with weighting of the data. Two-thirds of the sample was married, 17 percent were single, 14 percent were either divorced or widowed and one percent were co-habiting. The respondent population was distributed as follows, by age group: Table 2: Age groups
Age Groups Total percent
18-24 years 21 25-30 years 16 31-40 years 22 41-50 years 14 51-60 years 10 61 and older 18
ALL 100 The trend in age group according to urban or rural areas, based on those less than 31 years, compared with the 31-50 year olds and the over 50 year olds was significant, with higher
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proportions of younger than older men and women living in urban areas, as illustrated in Table 3.
Table 3: Proportions of respondents living in urban areas, by age, group and sex (Percentage)
Age Group Urban men
(n=607) Urban women
(n=608) Urban men and
women (n=1,215)
18-24 45 42 43 25-30 41 43 42 31-40 35 35 35 41-50 35 38 37 51-60 29 24 27
61 and older 12 10 11 Eighty percent of respondents cited Shona as their main home language, 13 percent Ndebele and seven percent other languages such as Tonga (two percent), Ndau (two percent), Shangaan (one percent), Sotho (one percent), Kalanga (one percent) and English (one percent); one percent of the sample were of European descent (whites) and 99 percent of African descent (black); no other racial groups were represented in the sample. Seventeen percent of respondents in Bulawayo spoke Shona at home; a respective one percent and nine percent of those in Matabeleland North and South did as well. In other provinces, where the majority are Shona, no respondents claimed Ndebele as their main home language. In Harare, 12 percent cited English as their main home language while 22 percent claimed the same in Bulawayo. Eighty-six percent of respondents were Christians, four percent belonged to a traditional religion, one percent were Jewish; no Muslims were represented in this survey. Forty-five percent of respondents were the heads of their households, 29 percent were the spouse of the heads, 18 percent the child of a head of household, eight percent some other relative and one percent were not relatives of the household head. Sixty-eight percent of the men interviewed were the heads of their households, compared with 21 percent of the female respondents. Respondents had an average of three children (standard error of the mean = 0.07), ranging from zero to 16. Those in urban areas had an average of 1.9 children compared with 3.6 for those in rural areas. There was a significant correlation with educational level too, ranging from an average of 5.1 children for those with no or only some primary school level education, to 1.9 for those who had completed a tertiary level education. Distribution of the sample based on the highest level of education that they had reached was as follows:
23 percent had either had no formal schooling or had not completed primary school; 16 percent had completed primary school;
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18 percent had completed between one and three years of secondary school; 33 percent had finished four years of secondary school; Four percent had each either finished six years of secondary school, were
undertaking a diploma or degree or had completed a degree; and 18 percent were 60 years old or older.
The level of education was highly correlated with urban and rural areas. Ninety-four percent of those who had not completed a primary level of schooling (or had never been schooled) lived in the rural areas; corresponding figures (percentage based in rural areas) for the next few categories were 87 percent (completed primary school); 69 percent (1-3 years secondary school); 52 percent (completed four years of secondary school); 28 percent (completed six years of secondary school); 21 percent (undertaking a diploma or degree) and zero percent (finished tertiary education). An alternative way of viewing this trend, showing the proportions of the rural and urban populations that had been educated to different levels, are illustrated in Figure 1a below. Figure 1a: Education level attained by urban and rural Zimbabweans
Women were less well educated than were men, as is clear from Figure 1b. Age group and education were also correlated, with 78 percent of the over 60 year olds having only completed some primary school (or not having been to school at all), compared with 42 percent of the 51-60 year olds, 13 percent of the 41-50 year olds, nine percent of the 31-40 year olds, two percent of the 25-30 year olds and six percent of the 18-24 year olds falling into this category.
4 6
16
48
9 106
33
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26
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2316 18
33
4 4 2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Per
cen
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Urban Rural All
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Figure 1b: Education level attained by men and women
Forty-nine percent of respondents had a job, 13 percent a part-time one and 36 percent a full time job. Twenty-two percent were unemployed and looking for work while 29 percent were not employed but were not seeking employment. Respondents were asked what their main occupation was, or, if not currently employed, what their previous occupation was. The most common occupations were as follows:
23 percent were subsistence farmers (producing only for home consumption) or farm laborers;
Six percent were traders or vendors; Eight percent were unskilled manual workers in the informal sector and six percent
in the formal sector; Four percent were artisans / skilled workers in the formal sector and three percent
were artisans working in the informal sector; Three percent were domestic workers; and Eight percent were in middle or upper management positions, or were professionals
or businessmen or women (17 percent of urbanites and three percent of those in the rural areas).
Seventeen percent had never had a job, 25 percent of those in urban areas and 14 percent in rural, 14 percent of men and 21 percent of women. As would be expected, occupation was highly correlated with educational level.
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1317
37
5 52
27
18 18
30
3 3 2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40P
erce
nt
Men Women
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Use of Media, Technology and Attendance at Community Meetings Mobile phones are typically used by Zimbabweans several times a day (65 percent), with nine percent saying they had never used one during the past 12 months, and 8 percent using one less than weekly. Conversely, 80 percent had never used a computer (last 12 months) and only six percent reported that they do so several times a day, with a similar pattern being true with respect to use of the Internet, with 75 percent never using it, and 13 percent using it several times a day; another six percent use it once a day or once every second day. Exposure to radio, television and newspapers is portrayed in Figure 2, with the radio being most prominent, in terms of frequency that respondents listen to it, compared with watching television or reading a newspaper. Figure 2: Media exposure
As might be expected, there were significant differences between respondents living in urban and rural areas with respect to their use of media, mobile phones and the Internet, though less so with respect to radio listenership than with respect to the other forms of media or communication included in this line of questioning. Figures 3a and 3b illustrates these differences. Note that, since most respondents fell into the ‘several times a day or once a day’, or the ‘never’ category, rather than other categories, these charts show the proportions that fell into these categories, rather than the in-between categories (less than daily).
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10 118
22
17
25
5 6 6
28
32
4 5 5
9
30
45
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Severaltimes/day
Once a day Once/2 days Once a week Less thanweekly
Never
Per
cen
t
Radio TV Newspaper
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Figure 3a: Urban and rural Zimbabweans who use/watch/listen/read once a day
Figure 3b: Urban and rural Zimbabweans who never use/watch/listen/read once a day
Men more often use a mobile phone than women (68 percent of men and 61 percent of women use one several times a day). A quarter of men and 15 percent of women had used a computer in the past 12 months, while 31 percent of men and 20 percent of women had used the Internet in the past 12 months. The same trends were observed with respect to the proportion that had listened to the radio during this time frame (88 percent of men, 78 percent of women), watched television (73 percent, 63 percent) or read a newspaper (64 percent, 45 percent). All these differences between men and women were statistically significant at the five percent level. There was a significant correlation, too, with respect to
92
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36
47
25
77
62
06
40
27
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Mobile phone Computer Internet Radio Newspaper Television
Per
cen
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Urban Rural
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52
43
1418
813
93 90
19
59
45
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Mobile phone Computer Internet Radio Newspaper Television
Per
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use of all these media or methods of communicating and level of education. The trends observed by age group are best illustrated as follows:
The proportions of respondents who had never used a mobile phone (during the past 12 months) were, according to age groups: 18-24 (4 percent), 25-30 (5 percent), 31-40 (5 percent), 41-50 (6 percent), 51-60 (11 percent) and over 60 (27 percent).
The respective proportions (of the same age groups as cited above) who had never
used a computer (in the last 12 months) were: 64 percent, 70 percent, 82 percent, 82 percent, 88 percent and 99 percent, respectively.
The respective proportions (of the same age groups as cited above) who had never
used the Internet (in the last 12 months) were: 57 percent, 60 percent, 76 percent, 74 percent, 90 percent, 98 percent, respectively.
The respective proportions (by age group) who had never listened to the radio (past
12 months) were: 9 percent, 16 percent, 11 percent, 22 percent, 19 percent, 29 percent, respectively.
Corresponding figures with respect to watching television (percent hadn’t watched
in last 12 months) were: 22 percent, 24 percent, 26 percent, 37 percent, 36 percent, 52 percent, respectively.
And regarding newspaper readership: 36 percent, 37 percent, 39 percent, 39 percent,
52 percent, 73 percent, respectively. When respondents were asked if they participate in community discussions and decision-making forums as a means to ensure decisions made by local leaders are appropriate and serve the needs of the local community, 65 percent stated they attend community meetings less often than weekly, and 27 percent never do, leaving 8 percent who do so at least weekly. Eighty-six percent of respondents in rural areas do attend community meetings, most (76 percent) less often than once a week but only 44 percent of urbanites attend these meetings at all. No significant differences existed between men and women, in this respect. However, by age group, 51 percent of 18-24 year olds have never attended a community meeting in the past 12 months, compared to 35 percent of 25-30 year olds not having done so, and with corresponding figures of 21 percent (31-40 year olds), 18 percent (41-50 year olds), 17 percent (51-60s) and 13 percent (61 years and over).
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VI. Service Delivery Issues
Most Important Service Delivery Issues Facing Zimbabwe Figures 4a, 4b and4c indicate the most pressing service delivery problems encountered by Zimbabweans overall, and separately for urban and rural respondents. Nationally, the two most important service delivery issues to emerge were (1) the poor state of the country’s infrastructure, roads being mentioned in particular in this regard and (2) a lack of water (closely followed by the lack of clean water). For those in urban areas, a lack of water ranks as the most important problem, followed by the poor refuse collection and waste disposal, and then closely by load shedding (power outages). In rural areas, Zimbabweans are most concerned about the poor infrastructure, the lack of water and insufficient agricultural support and advice. Women more often named a lack of clean water as their number one service delivery problem than men (10 percent versus seven percent). Men more often named poor infrastructure among the top three problems (47 percent) than women (40 percent). These were the only two significant differences evident between women’s and men’s responses. The differences between respondents based in the urban and rural areas, with respect to the proportion that named a problem among the three most important, were significant for all the areas shown in the figures below. Figure 4a: Main service delivery problems among Zimbabweans
33
28
12
9
9
8
8
8
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Poor infrastructure
Lack of water
Lack of clean water
Poor refuse collection
Limited access to healthcare
Load shedding (power outage)
High school fees
Lack of/poor public transportation
Percent
28
Figure 4b: Main service delivery problems among urban Zimbabweans
Figure 4c: Main service delivery problems among rural Zimbabweans
Explaining Poor Service Delivery and Identifying Responsible Parties Figure 5 illustrates the main reasons given why respondents considered a particular area of service delivery to be poor, and the persons or institutions most often named as being responsible for provision of this service. This table focuses on eleven areas of service delivery considered to be the most problematic either by all Zimbabweans, or by those in urban or rural areas. For all service areas, a combination of lack of state funds, inefficiencies
29
26
15
25
8
5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Lack of water
Poor refuse collection
Lack of clean water
Load shedding (Power outage)
Poor sewage disposal
No electricity connection
Percent
36
23
21
12
12
11
11
11
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Poor infrastructure
Lack of water
Lack of agricultural advice and support
Lack of clean water
Limited access to healthcare
Unaffordable healthcare
Lack of/poor public transportation
High cost of school fees
Percent
29
and incompetencies at management level and poor maintenance were the chief reasons given why service delivery is less than adequate.
30
2911
1438
7
1212
2122
319
2417
1953
10
2116161616
2520
2212
3146
24
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Don't knowPoor management, incompetence
Lack of fundingLack of capacity or demand outstrips supply
AVAILABILITY OF ELECTRICITY
Don't knowPoor management, incompetence
Lack of chemicals to treat waterOld pipes, burst pipes, and poor maintenance
Lack of FundingCLEAN WATER
Don't knowInefficiency, incompetence, poor management
Corruption, politicsLack of funding
AGRICULTURAL ADVICE AND SUPPORT
Don't knowWater storage facilities are far away
Lack of capacity or demand outstrips supplyOld pipes, burst pipes, and poor maintenance
Poor management, incompetenceLack of funding
AVAILABILITY OF WATER
Don't knowInefficiency, incompetence
Lack of fundingPoor maintenance
INFRASTRUCTURE
Figure 5: Perceptions of poor service delivery and responsible parties
31
22
13
19
34
2
14
49
3
28
7
11
47
5
21
22
49
6
27
14
7
35
44
58
7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Don't know
Poor management, incompetence
Lack of funding
Burst pipes, poor maintenance
SEWERAGE DISPOSAL
Don't know
Lack of funding
ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE
Don't know
Corruption, politics
Poor management, incompetence
Lack of funding
ELECTRICITY CONNECTIONS
Don't know
Lack of funding
Poor maintenance
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Don't know
Inefficiency, incompetent management
REFUSE COLLECTION, WASTE DISPOSAL
Don't know
Lack of funding
Low salaries, unemployment
SCHOOL AFFORDABILITY
32
Ease of Obtaining Birth Certificate and National Identity Card Identification documents, especially birth certificates, are essential for citizens to have access to
public services. Fifty-five percent of respondents reported that it is easy (14 percent said very easy, 41 percent easy) to obtain a birth certificate, while 38 percent report it to be a difficult exercise (14 percent very difficult and 24 percent, difficult), with seven percent not knowing, having never tried. Two-thirds of respondents reported that it is easy (47 percent said very easy, 20 percent easy) to obtain a national identity card; 30 percent perceive it to be difficult to do so (10 percent very difficult and 20 percent, difficult), with three percent not knowing, having never tried. Those in rural areas find it more difficult to get either a birth certificate or national identity card (42 percent and 32 percent said it was difficult, respectively) than do those in urban areas (29 percent and 24 percent respectively). People who live in Harare find it easier to get these documents (67 percent reported it was easy or very easy to get a birth certificate and 73 percent, a national identity document) than those who live in Bulawayo (51 percent and 66 percent, respectively), or in the other provinces, which have a greater rural than urban population. Based on responses, it would appear that it is most difficult to get these documents for those in the Midlands (47 percent and 43 percent reported it to be difficult to get these two, respectively), in Matabeleland North (56 percent and 41 percent, respectively) and, most difficult of all, in Matabeleland South (57 percent, 64 percent). It follows that Ndebele speakers (the majority group in Bulawayo and in Matabeleland) find it more difficult (57 percent with respect to a birth certificate and 38 percent regarding an identity card) than do Shona speakers (34 percent and 28 percent, respectively), with respective figures for minority groups (percent finding it very difficult or difficult) of 45 percent and 37 percent, respectively.
33
VII. Roles, Responsibilities and Citizens’ Participation Persons or Institutions Approached for Support, Advice or Resolution of Problems Figure 6 illustrates the persons (or institutions) who respondents living in urban or rural areas would seek assistance from first, secondly and thirdly, in the event that they could not solve a problem within their immediate circle of friends and family, or by themselves. The weighted score accounts for the first, second and third rankings, showing the percentage the maximum score achievable had all respondents named the same person/institution first. There were marked differences between those living in rural and urban areas, with urban dwellers relying mostly on the police (38 percent) or a religious leader (34 percent), followed by someone from their church or religious group (25 percent). Those in the rural areas tend to rely mostly on the village heads (sabhuku) (53 percent), to solve a problem or provide advice, and then the police (28 percent), followed by a chief in their community (24 percent). Women would more often first go to a religious leader for help (17 percent) than would men (nine percent), with men more likely to first seek the advice of a local councilor (eight percent) than would women (four percent). In urban areas, the other people or institutions to whom one would go (37 percent weighted score) included a counsellor (seven percent weighted average); a lawyer, member of the judiciary or a court (five percent); a teacher or school head, a government minister or a boss or someone at the workplace (three percent each); a member of parliament (two percent); no other person or place achieved more than a one percent weighted score. In rural areas, other people or institutions from whom help would be sought first, second or third (23 percent weighted average) included a member of a village or ward development committee (four percent weighted score); a teacher or school head, or a district administrator (three percent each) or a counselor (two percent). No other person or place achieved more than a one percent weighted score.
34
Figure 6: Seeking assistance, advice or resolution of problems
23
8
12
7
10
6
21
14
20
14
10
15
12
7
16
56 6
1
38
1
18
2
97
57
10
57
1
42
21
2
17
3 3
0 02
1
15
9
22
13
23
17
9 9
6 6
10 108
3
14
6
30
12
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural
First Choice Second Choice Third Choice
Religious leaderPoliceChurch member/groupVillage head (Sabhuku)Local councilorChiefDepartment of Social Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Social WelfareOtherNo-oneDon’t know
35
Zimbabweans’ Desirable Credentials for Local Leaders Based on the results of this survey, the majority of Zimbabweans (80 percent) prefer their local traditional leaders to have at least a secondary school level of education, with there being no significant difference observed between those who live in rural areas, and those who live in urban areas (who presumably were talking about the leaders back in their rural homes). Similarly, 91 percent think it desirable that their local elected leaders are educated to at least this level, with urban and rural respondents holding similar views. Men are more interested than are women in having elected leaders with a secondary school education (93 percent versus 89 percent). Thirty percent of respondents prefer their local traditional leaders and 27 percent prefer their locally elected leaders to have liberation credentials (that is, to have been involved in the country’s liberation struggle until it attained independence in 1980), and here there were significant differences between those living in rural areas (32 percent regarding local traditional leaders and 28 percent regarding locally elected leaders) and those in urban areas (25 percent regarding local traditional leaders and 23 percent regarding locally elected leaders). There were significant differences in perceptions between those who live in either of the two largest cities, Harare and Bulawayo, too, with 31 percent of the former but only 12 percent of the latter wishing that traditional leaders had liberation credentials, and with respective figures of 28 percent and 11 percent regarding liberation struggle credentials for elected leaders. In the other provinces there were significant differences in responses to these questions, as illustrated in Figure 7. Those living in the provinces of Masvingo and Mashonaland Central were the most interested in their leaders having these credentials. By occupational level, those employed in management level positions were less likely to think liberation credentials were important for local traditional leaders (11 percent did) than did those employed in unskilled positions (33 percent) or subsistence farmers and farm laborers (32 percent), or those who had never had a job (28 percent). A similar trend was apparent with respect to the desirability for local elected leaders to have such credentials. Women are more interested in local traditional leaders having liberation credentials than are men, with 70 percent of men and 61 percent of women saying that such credentials are not important. Corresponding figures with respect to liberation credentials for local elected leaders were 74 percent and 63 percent (men and women saying that this does not matter).
36
Figure 7: Preference of liberation credentials, by province
Citizens’ Duties to Participate in Various Activities and Fora Based on these survey results, the majority of Zimbabweans are civic-minded, agreeing that citizens have a duty to:
Be informed about important issues (96 percent);
Register to vote (88 percent) and to vote (92 percent);
Influence government decisions (88 percent);
Join a local community group (82 percent);
Pay rates and taxes (72 percent); and
Join a political party (68 percent).
Just 51 percent, however, believed that Zimbabweans have a duty to join the military (there is no national service in Zimbabwe). Figure 8 illustrates the opinions of rural and urban Zimbabweans regarding the various responsibilities of citizens. Those living in rural and urban areas differed in their opinions, significantly with respect to whether people have a duty to pay rates and taxes (67 percent rural versus 82 percent urban), to influence government decisions (11 percent of urban respondents versus six percent of rural said that they do not), to join a political party (71 percent rural, 61 percent urban) and to join the military (54 percent rural, 44 percent urban). Respondents aged 18-30 were less likely to agree that people have a duty to join a political
31
12
29
42
3331
38
17 16
2728
11
27
31 30
26
34
20
13
28
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Per
cen
t
Province
Traditional leader
Elected leader
37
party (62 percent) than did older respondents (69 percent-of 31-60 year olds and 76 percent of over 60 year olds and older). Figure 8: Perceptions of citizen’s civic duties
Zimbabweans living in Mashonaland Central are less inclined to agree that citizens of Zimbabwe have a duty to pay rates and taxes (51 percent agreed, though 13 percent did not know) than did those in other provinces (for example, compared with 71 percent in Mashonaland West, 74 percent in Mashonaland East, 79 percent in the Midlands; however, only 53 percent of those in Matabeleland North agreed with this). There was a correlation between the proportion that agreed with this statement and rising occupation level from unskilled workers to professionals. However, those who had never had a job tended to agree with the statement (71 percent) more than subsistence farmers did (62 percent). There were also marked differences with respect to opinions regarding citizens’ duties to join the military; 29 percent of respondents in Mashonaland Central and 29 percent in Mashonaland West agreed that they do, with between 40-70 percent of those in other provinces agreeing with this. Zimbabweans’ Participation in Their Communities Discussions and decision-making Zimbabweans living in rural areas showed more interest in participating in community discussions or decision-making (90 percent) forums than those in urban areas (79 percent),
8288 92
8697
61
77
44
67
88 92 8996
71
84
54
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Per
cen
t th
at a
nsw
ered
yes
Urban Rural
38
this difference being significant. Ninety percent of men and 82 percent of women declared that they were interested in participating in community fora. Overall, 86 percent claimed to be interested. Having said this, however, a lower proportion, 66 percent, said that they knew how to participate in such discussions or decisions (53 percent of urban and 72 percent of rural dwellers, significant at the five percent level). But an encouragingly high 85 percent said that they felt they could participate freely in such fora (79 percent urban, 88 percent rural, 89 percent men, 81 percent women), while 79 percent (71 percent urban, 82 percent rural) believe that people do or would respect and listen to their opinions, although women believe this to be less likely (74 percent) than do men (83 percent). Figure 9 indicates the number of times urban and rural respondents, and all respondents, had participated in such discussions or decision-making in their communities. People in rural areas participate significantly more often than do urban-dwellers, with over a third of the rural but just eight percent of the urban respondents claiming to do so often, but with almost two-thirds of those in urban areas never getting involved in community meetings or decision-making fora. Forty-two percent of women and 37 percent of men had not participated in these. Respondents aged 18-24 years of age were significantly less likely to know how to participate in community discussions (or felt that they did) (78 percent) compared with older respondents over 50 years (88 percent) and were significantly more likely to have never done so than those aged over 30 years. Figure 9: Regularity of participation in community discussions and decision-making
63
15 14
8
28
12
26
34
40
13
2225
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Never Once or twice A few times Often
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
39
Only 49 percent of those in Masvingo province and 44 percent in Bulawayo agreed that they knew how to participate in community discussions or decision-making, compared with 55-85 percent of respondents in each of the other eight provinces. Of the eight rural provinces, those in Masvingo were the least likely to have participated in these meetings or decision-making; 48 percent never had; 40 percent never had in Matabeleland North but in the other rural provinces, 22-30 percent never had. In Harare and Bulawayo a respective 65 percent and 62 percent had never done so. People who belong to minority groups (based on the language they speak at home; for example, not Shona or Ndebele) were significantly less likely to know how to participate in community discussions or influence decision-making (53 percent said that they could) than those whose main home language was Shona (66 percent) or Ndebele (73 percent), although the level of interest in so doing did not vary significantly across these three categories. Related to the lower proportion of urban than rural dwellers who were interested in participation in community meetings and decision-making, better educated people (who tend to migrate for work to urban areas) were less interested than less well educated respondents, less often knew how to and less often had participated. When asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement “Voting gives me a chance to influence decision-making within Zimbabwe”:
Both urban and rural respondents strongly agreed or agreed, overall, as illustrated in
Figure 10. The higher proportion of rural than urban respondents who ‘strongly
agreed’ was significant.
By province, those in Harare, Manicaland and the Midlands were the least likely to
agree strongly with this statement (38 percent, 34 percent and 33 percent,
respectively), while those in Masvingo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South
were the most likely to thus agree (56 percent, 56 percent and 58 percent,
respectively).
Ndebele speakers were significantly less likely to strongly agree or agree (74 percent)
and more likely to strongly disagree (11 percent) with this statement than were those
whose main home language was Shona (83 percent and four percent, respectively).
Minority language groups were significantly more likely than Shona speakers not to
know the answer to this question (10 percent versus four percent). These figures are
largely influenced by the urban Ndebele sample residing in Bulawayo.
People who had finished university or were currently undertaking a diploma or
degree were more likely to disagree that voting influences decision-making in
Zimbabwe, than were their less well educated peers.
40
Men were more likely to ‘strongly agree’ that voting gives them a chance to influence
decision-making than were women (50 percent versus 38 percent); women were
more likely not to know (eight percent versus two percent).
Figure 10: Perceptions voting can influence decision-making
Communication between Zimbabweans and Their Leaders Incidence and means of communicating with leaders and associations
The majority of Zimbabweans do not communicate with leaders or community representatives, based on the proportions that had done so over the past two-year period (see Table 4). Zimbabweans living in rural areas were more likely to than those in urban areas, however, with 43 percent of the former having communicated with a traditional leader and 29 percent with an elected official during that time period, compared with a respective 18 percent and 19 percent of the urbanites having done so. Eighty-four percent of those in Harare had not communicated with these people in the last two years, compared with 74 percent not having done so in Bulawayo. Of those in the rural provinces, those in Mashonaland Central were the least likely to have done so (13 percent had), and those in the Midlands most likely to have done so (35 percent had). Almost all communications are through visits to the person, with community meetings being the only other method that featured in the responses at all (other than the one percent that had used a proxy).
38 38
10 9
41
47
37
64
6
1
44
37
7 6 5
1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Don't know Refused
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
41
Table 4: Methods of communication with leaders and groups in the past two years (Percentage)
Means of Communication
Elected Official Traditional Leader Residents’ Association
All (urban, rural) All (urban, rural) All (urban, rural) Visit in person 18 (16, 19) 31 (17, 38) 1 (4, 0) Via text/ SMS/
WhatsApp 0 0 0
Via E-mail 0 0 0 Via letter 0 0 0
Via website 0 0 0 Via a proxy (e.g.
NGO or elder) 1 (0,2) 1 (0, 1) 0
Via radio/TV/ hotline
0 0 0
Town hall/ community
meeting 7 (2,10) 5 (1, 7) 0
Phone call 0 0 0 Not applicable, did not contact
74 (81, 71) 65 (82, 57) 99 (96, 100)
Sample Size 1,215 1,215 1,215 Issues taken up with leaders, associations and response to issues Urban-based respondents who had contacted an elected official (numbering 152) had most often done so concerning personal problems (17 percent) and water and sanitation services (10 percent). A few had spoken to the official concerning issues around land or housing stands (nine percent), housing (including access to or rentals of council houses; eight percent) and refuse collection (three percent).
82 percent of these had received a response, and of these 126 people, 63 percent
reported that they were satisfied with the response they received.
Those in the rural areas who had communicated with an elected official (numbering 144) had done so to discuss personal problems (54 percent, more often women than men) or the allocation of land/farming or grazing areas or housing stands (47 percent, more often men than women). Twenty-six percent had gone to the official to discuss issues around the supply of water and sanitation (18 percent spoke of domestic water supply, 6 percent of treatment and removal of sewerage, and two percent of other water-related problems but to do with shortage of water for irrigation of crops).
86 percent of these had received a response, and of these 126 people, 79 percent
reported that they were satisfied with the response they received (this level of
satisfaction being significantly greater than that reported by urban respondents).
42
Those who had discussed issues with traditional leaders had also most often sought advice or support for personal issues (women more often than men), including when there were deaths in the family, for funeral arrangements and for assistance with accessing birth certificates; 41 percent of 133 urban respondents and 40 percent of 225 rural respondents cited assistance with access to birth certificates as the issue the last time they had contacted a traditional leader. Of similar importance (38 percent) were issues to do with farming (such as access to land, agricultural inputs, the state of dip tanks etc., with men being more likely to talk about these issues than are women). Thirty-eight percent of the urban and 38 percent of the rural respondents named these sorts of issues, broken down into the following sub-issues around farming and agriculture and land. Note that the responses from people in urban areas around these sorts of issues showed that the large majority of these were disputes taken up back in their rural home areas.
10 percent had gone to request land or housing stands;
10 percent had gone for advice around disputes to do with land allocation,
boundaries, shared use of grazing land, to complain about farming land being
allocated for residential housing;
Eight percent had gone to complain about what they perceived to be unfair
distribution of agricultural inputs (e.g. seeds, fertilizer) that had been given by
government or donated by other donors;
Four percent had sought advice on how to access and/or finance the purchase of
agricultural inputs;
Two percent had gone to their traditional leader to complain about or to seek
arbitration concerning other people’s cattle having destroyed their crops, vegetables
or strayed into their grazing land, or to discuss policies governing the release of cattle
into communal lands post-harvest;
For one percent, issues discussed concerned conservation farming and concerns
regarding the excessive chopping down of trees in their area; and
The remainder of the 28 percent who had raised issues around farming and land
(three percent) had raised issues of a diverse nature, including the lack of dip tanks
in the area, the lack of drinking water for cattle, displacements of people as ordered
by traditional leaders or government authorities, cattle herding duties, disputes
around livestock ownership, rates charged and security (of urban stands), complaints
about the poor service offered by the government veterinary services department,
letters of appeal to sell tobacco and around training on agriculture.
Much smaller numbers spoke of the problem having been associated with water and sanitation; no other issues were reported.
92 percent of urban and 93 percent of rural respondents who had gone to a traditional
leader with an issue to discuss had received a response, and a respective 87 percent
urban and 80 percent of those who had were satisfied with the response, respectively.
43
Communications with residents’ associations were rare, as discussed earlier. Where these had occurred, they were almost always related to the state of or access to amenities in the area, including water, sanitation and roads. Eighty-six percent of 42 people had received a response; 78 percent were satisfied with the response. Suggestions for improved communications with leaders and associations Two main suggestions for improved communications emerged from this question, with no significant difference being observed between urban and rural dwellers. Eighty-three percent of respondents recommended the convening of public meetings with constituents to answer their questions and 25 percent requested that the persons in question provide more opportunities to interface with their constituents privately, and/or to mingle more with them to provide such opportunities. Less than a tenth made other suggestions, such as setting up an office in the community (seven percent), public phone numbers for constituents to use (seven percent) or the delivery of newsletters (six percent; however 11 percent of urban and only four percent of rural respondents). Social media was mentioned by just two percent and newspapers, television or radio were rarely mentioned as means of communicating better (one percent, two percent and three percent, respectively). Preferred means of communications with leaders and associations In line with the current main two methods of communications with their leaders or representatives, Zimbabweans favor a face-to-face meeting (72 percent), followed by town hall or community meetings (27 percent), with those in urban and rural areas sharing similar views in this respect. Phone calls, however, emerged as a third means (23 percent, 27 percent of urban and 20 percent of rural respondents), a method which is not used at present. No other one method was mentioned by more than four percent of the sample.
45
VIII. Relationships with Local Government
Perceptions Regarding Responsibilities of Institutions and Persons When asked to rank the top three responsibilities of local councilors, traditional leaders and development committee members, the following emerged as being most important in the eyes of Zimbabweans (see Table 5). The resolution of constituents’ problems and listening to constituents and passing on their concerns to central government were felt to be important roles for all three of these types of persons. Being involved in the development of the area and in income generating projects were perceived to be very important roles for councilors and development committee members, while traditional leaders were expected to be involved in arbitration, dispute resolution, promoting community harmony, passing laws and navigating issues to do with land distribution, protection and allocation according to respondents. Of the 11 percent who spoke of these responsibilities around land allocation, the large majority (84 percent) spoke of the role of the leaders being to do with allocating or distributing land, for homesteads and for agriculture (grazing and fields for crops). Many added that this should be done fairly. Five percent of the 11 percent talked more specifically of protection of people’s rights to land, ensuring the land is properly gazetted to the people. Four percent (of the 11 percent) spoke of the traditional leaders’ arbitration role in resolving land disputes, three percent (of the 11 percent) of their role in settlement planning, seeking out new areas as existing areas become too overcrowded and of the reservation of land for the next generation. Three percent (of the 11 percent) spoke of their role in conservation of the land (e.g. ensuring contouring is carried out), and of its efficient and maximum utilization. Rural and urban-based respondents held similar views regarding the most important roles for local councilors, in general, though with the former according more priority to service delivery (provision of schools and clinics) than did urban respondents. There were no significant differences for most of the responses from urban and rural respondents regarding the roles of ward development committee members, other than ‘service delivery (clinics, schools)’ and ‘holding community meetings’, significantly more often mentioned by rural respondents than by those in urban areas (eight percent versus five percent naming this in the top three roles, respectively for the former, and eight percent versus four percent for the latter). Note that a similar question was asked regarding the responsibilities of residents’ associations; however, only 15 percent had or knew of a residents’ association serving their community (23 percent of urban and 4 percent of rural respondents); most of these gave the primary responsibility of the association as being related to, in order of frequency of mention, resolving constituents’ problems; taking these problems to the central government; developing the area and ensuring safety of the residents it represents.
46
Table 5: Responsibilities of local government (Percentage) Weighted score
showing importance4
Local Councilors Listening to constituents’ problems and passing them on to central government
49
Resolving constituents’ problems 45 Infrastructure/ roads 14 Income generating projects 14 Service delivery (education, health) 7 Water and Sanitation 7
Traditional Leaders Resolving constituents’ problems 40 Listening to constituents’ problems and passing them on to central government
27
Maintaining peace, harmony, community works together 14 Passing laws 13 Sharing land, sorting land issues, distribution of land 11 Trying court cases, village court, arbitration of communal/justice issues
9
Development Committee Members Listening to constituents’ problems and passing them on to central government
19
Resolving constituents’ problems 18 Development programs 15 Ensuring good basic services (health, education) 5 Water and sanitation 5 Hold community meetings; be accessible 5
Fifty-nine percent of respondents (all rural, and urban respondents who have a rural family home and had been there in the last two years) believe that traditional leaders should be elected by members of the community (65 percent of those who reside in urban and 57 percent of those who reside in rural areas – difference is significant at the 5 percent level); 38 percent said that they should not and 3 percent did not know. While half to three-quarters of respondents in most provinces felt that traditional leaders should be elected, with the highest proportions being recorded in Matabeleland North (75 percent), the Midlands (71 percent) and Matabeleland South (70 percent), only 40 percent of those in Masvingo province believed that they should be elected.
4 If ranked top, score=3, 2nd=2, 3rd=1, summed and divided by maximum possible score of 300.
47
Satisfaction with Performance of Institutions and Persons Respondents were asked to what extent they approved or disapproved of the performance of various players in local government and other persons or institutions (such as religious leaders).5 Options were also provided for a respondent to refuse to answer, or for when they didn’t know. Figure 11 illustrates the overall responses of satisfaction with performance of institutions and persons. Note, however, that for some institutions or persons, a high percentage of respondents could not comment on their performance, potentially indicating limited interactions with or interest in that institution or group. A tenth of respondents were unwilling to comment on the performance of the police, suggesting fear of so doing, despite assurances that names of respondents would not be divulged and were not written on the questionnaires. Religious leaders and traditional leaders were most often accorded with performing very well, followed by the police, the political party (that respondents supported), local councilors and the judiciary, although it is noteworthy that a quarter of respondents could not comment on the performance of the judiciary. Women are more likely than are men to approve of the job that religious leaders do (43 percent of women and 32 percent of men strongly approved). Men were more likely than women to strongly approve of the judiciary (17 percent versus 11 percent), although 30 percent of women, as opposed to 19 percent of men, did not know. Over a third of respondents were unable to comment on the performance of civil society. Those who could were generally satisfied with its performance. Similarly a substantial proportion (41-49 percent in urban and 38 percent in rural areas) could not rate ward or village development committees. Of those who could rate the performance of their member of parliament, slightly more disapproved than approved of their performance, while the opposite was true with respect to ministers. Satisfaction with independent or state media was similar, although approximately a third of respondents could not comment on either, with women being much more likely to give a “don’t know” response than men (22 percent of men and 40 percent of women could not rate the state media, and a respective 28 percent and 46 percent could not rate the independent media). Over half of respondents are unaware of how well SADC or the African Union perform (45 percent of men, 66 percent of women, with respect to SADC, and 49 percent of men and 68 percent of women, concerning the African Union); the majority of the remainder approve of their performance.
5 Using a scale of four: strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove.
48
Figure 11: Satisfaction with performance of leaders and institutions
38
2617 15 15 14 12
8 8 8 7 6 5 5
47
47
5147
42 46
39
28
4032 31
39
27 27
8
1217
15 2311
11
14
1423
2212
6 8
1
410
5
14
4
2
8
6
20
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34
610
5
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25
3641
31
1625
37
59 55
51 1 1 1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100P
erce
nt
Strongly approve Approve Disapprove Strongly disapprove Don’t know or haven't heard Refused to answer
49
As is evident from Table 6, elected councilors are more often accorded with being accessible to the public and working for their good than are felt to be the opposite, although the proportion who believe they are not working for the good of the common people is, at 40 percent, substantial, as is the proportion (31 percent) who do not believe that they are honest. Significantly more people disagree than agree that elected councilors have impacted in a positive way on their lives. As to their leadership skills and responsiveness, most people did not hold views on the extreme end of the range (strongly agree or disagree) and overall, the balance was a favorable opinion. For all these statements, rural respondents’ perceptions were statistically significantly different from those of urban-dwellers, with the former being more complimentary of the councilors than were the latter group. For example:
44 percent of those in rural areas strongly agreed that their elected councilor is
accessible compared with 15 percent of those in urban areas so agreeing; 43 percent
of the latter group disagreed with this statement compared with 20 percent of the
rural respondents doing so;
24 percent of those in rural areas strongly agreed that their elected councilor works
for the good of the common people, compared with eight percent of those in urban
areas stating this;
22 percent of those in urban areas either strongly agreed or agreed that their
councilor has made a positive impact on their quality of life; 49 percent of their rural
counterparts responded thus;
While 61 percent of respondents in rural areas agreed that their councilor is honest,
only 27 percent of those in urban locations did so;
34 percent of respondents in urban areas disagreed (including strongly disagreed)
that their councilor was a poor leader, compared with 60 percent of rural
respondents disagreeing with this statement; and
Differences between those in rural and urban areas were less stark with respect to
the final statement about councilors’ responsiveness to constituents’ needs, though
17 percent of the urban but just six percent of the rural-dwellers did not know.
50
Table 6: Perceptions of elected councilors (Percentage, n = 1,215)
Elected Councilors Strongly
agree Agree Disagree
Strongly disagree
Don’t know
Are accessible to the general public
35 30 16 12 8
Are regularly working for the benefit of the
common people 19 34 26 14 7
Are honest 12 37 24 7 19 Have made a positive impact on my quality
of life 11 29 38 15 6
Are poor leaders 7 28 41 11 13 Are not responsive to
my needs 9 34 37 10 10
Table 7 illustrates respondents’ perceptions about traditional leaders for the same traits sought after for elected councilors above. For all traits, traditional leaders were more favorably regarded than elected councilors, particularly for their level of accessibility to the general public. Thirty percent agreed, though, that traditional leaders are not responsive to their needs. Note that urban respondents who did not have a rural home that they had visited in the previous two years were not asked questions about traditional leaders. Those who did were referring to traditional leaders in their rural home areas, where they spend less time than rural respondents; their views were similar, however, except with respect to whether the traditional leaders have had a positive impact on their lives, where the urban-dwellers were less likely to say that they had than did rural respondents. For all these statements, respondents who live in the urban areas were less likely to know how the traditional leaders in their rural homes performed than did those who live permanently in the rural areas, which is a result that would be expected. Constituents in Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Masvingo, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West were happier with the performance of their traditional leaders with respect to their accessibility to the general public – a respective 68 percent, 69 percent, 67 percent, 69 percent and 72 percent strongly agreed that they were, than were those in Mashonaland East (49 percent strongly agreed), the Midlands (41 percent), Manicaland (52 percent). Those in the Midlands were also least satisfied with performance of their traditional leaders for many of the other traits asked about (as listed in the table above).
51
Table 7: Perceptions of traditional leaders (Percentage, n = 1215)6
Traditional Leaders Strongly
agree Agree Disagree
Strongly disagree
Don’t know
Are accessible to the general public
59 32 4 2 3
Are regularly working for the
benefit of the common people
37 41 15 3 4
Are honest 22 52 14 4 8 Have made a positive impact on my quality
of life 23 41 26 5 3
Are poor leaders 3 17 57 17 5 Are not responsive to
my needs 7 23 52 13 5
Table 8 indicates the high proportion of respondents who do not know about development committee members’ performance, with those in urban areas being less likely to be aware of their performance, or to state that there are no development committees in their ward. Those who did rate the performance of these committee members are satisfied rather than dissatisfied, overall, other than for the statement that these persons or committees have had a positive impact on their lives (more disagreed than agreed, in urban and rural areas). Those urban respondents who could answer these questions more often disagreed than agreed that they work for the good of the common people, that they are responsive to their needs, or that they are honest, and agreed rather than disagreed that they are poor leaders, whilst the opposite trends were observed for the rural respondents. These differences observed in the perceptions of urban and rural respondents were all statistically significant. Respondents living in Mashonaland Central and, in particular, Mashonaland East were more satisfied with various aspects of performance and accessibility of development committee members than were those in Mashonaland West. Respondents based in Masvingo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces were the most impressed, across the various provinces.
6 No incidence of refusals to answer were recorded.
52
Table 8: Perceptions of ward and village development committee members (Percentage, n = 1,215)
Ward and Village Development
Committee Members
Strongly agree
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
Don’t know
Are accessible to the general public
14 20 10 5 52
Are regularly working for the
benefit of the common people
9 20 14 7 51
Are honest 7 22 11 5 56 Have made a positive impact on my quality
of life 5 17 21 8 48
Are poor leaders 4 14 23 5 53 Are not responsive to
my needs 5 17 22 6 51
The 188 respondents who knew of or had a residents’ association representing their community more often agreed that they were accessible (66 percent), work for the benefit of all (63 percent) and are honest (55 percent, but 28 percent could not comment on this); just over half agreed that they had impacted positively on their lives as residents. Fifty-eight percent disagreed that they were poor leaders; 23 percent agreed and 19 percent did not know. Thirty-one percent agreed that they are not responsive to respondents’ needs. There were only twenty respondents from rural areas who responded to questions about residents’ associations (the rest stating that there was not one in their area), and thus comparisons between those in urban and rural areas are not conclusive. Table 9: Perceptions of residents' associations (Percentage, n = 188)
Residents’ Associations Members
Strongly agree
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
Don’t know
Are accessible to the general public
28 38 13 8 13
Are regularly working for the benefit of the
common people 20 43 16 7 14
Are honest 15 40 12 5 28 Have made a positive
impact on my quality of life
11 40 29 8 12
Are poor leaders 5 18 46 12 19 Are not responsive to
my needs 6 25 36 16 16
53
IX. Women and Youth in Decision-Making Involvement of Women in Decision-Making and Leadership Positions Figure 12 illustrates the proportion of respondents that agreed (including both strongly agreed and agreed) to statements read out to them regarding women’s influence, representation and leadership. Over two-thirds agreed that in Zimbabwe, women are listened to and respected by politicians, are adequately represented in decision-making, make good leaders and have the same opportunities for promotion; 62 percent believe that a woman could be elected as president. The graph shows some interesting differences by urban and rural area, and all these differences are statistically significant. Further, when asked who they would vote for if two candidates were equal, other than that one was a man and one a woman, similar proportions selected a man (39 percent) or a woman (37 percent), while 22 percent stated that it made no difference. Respondents were asked whether they believed that the temporary quota system (an additional sixty women), mandated in the new constitution for the duration of the first two parliaments after the new constitution came into effect, should be made a permanent system.
58 percent believe that it should (no significant difference according to rural or urban
area), 28 percent that it should not with the remainder being unsure (13 percent) or
unwilling to answer this question.
Women were significantly less likely than were men to strongly agree that:
Politicians listen to the needs and ideas of women (16 percent of women and 25
percent of men strongly agreed with this statement);
Women are adequately represented in the local decision-making positions in
Zimbabwe (17 percent versus 24 percent); and
Women have the same opportunities for promotion as men in Zimbabwe (19 percent
versus 31 percent).
Moreover, 67 percent of women but just 49 percent of men agree that the temporary quota system that provides for an additional 60 women in parliament should be made permanent. Fifty-two percent of women would elect a woman rather than a man for office, all other things being equal; 26 percent would select a man. Fifty-one percent of men would select a man, and 22 percent a woman. Also significant were differences observed between Shona and Ndebele speakers with respect to their perception that politicians listen to the needs and ideas of women – 72 percent of the former but only 56 percent of the latter strongly agreed or agreed – as well as the proportions that would select a man for office if a man and woman were running and were equal in all other respects – 42 percent of Shona and 26 percent of Ndebele speakers would select a man, a respective 36 percent and 39 percent, a woman and for 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively, it would not matter.
54
Figure 12: Perceptions of women leaders
Involvement of Youth in Decision-Making and Leadership Positions Youth (defined to respondents, in this survey, as up to 30 years of age) are viewed as less likely than are women to be adequately represented in decision-making positions or to have their views respected by politicians. Sixty-one percent believe they can make good political leaders. Differences between the perceptions of rural and urban dwellers (see Figure 13) were significantly different for all the statements shown. When asked whether they would seek a youth or an older person for an elected office, 41 percent of both the rural and urban population said that they’d elect a youth, all other things being equal. A respective 41 percent and 45 percent would elect the older candidate while the remainder either said they had no preference (14 percent urban, 13 percent rural) or did not know. There were few differences between the different age groups concerning their impressions of youth in decision-making and leadership positions in Zimbabwe, other than that fewer respondents aged over 40 believed that youth would make good political leaders than did those under the age of 40. Twenty-three percent of the 18-24 year olds strongly agreed that they would, compared with 22 percent of the 25-30 year olds, 24 percent of the 31-40 year olds, 19 percent of the 41-50 year olds, 17 percent of the 51-60 year olds and 20 percent of the over 60s.
36
6366
71 71
29
71
60
6771
32
69
62
6871
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Politicians donot listen to
needs and ideasof women
Women areadequately
represented indecision-making
positions
Woman can beelected
president
Women havesame
opportunities forpromotion as
men
Women makegood political
leaders
Per
cen
t th
at s
tro
ngl
y a
gree
or
agre
e
Urban Rural All
55
Figure 13: Perceptions of youth
55
39
57
45
50
63
4846
61
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Politicians do not listen toneeds and ideas of youth
Youth are adequatelyrepresented in decision-
making positions
Youths make good politicalleaders
Per
cen
t th
at s
tro
ngl
y a
gree
or
agre
e
Urban Rural All
57
X. Dispute Resolution
Persons or Institutions Most Trusted to Resolve Economic Disputes The intent with this line of questioning was to ask respondents who they would trust most to resolve issues related to politically-related disputes, but due to the sensitivity of this question in the Zimbabwean environment, it was preceded by a less sensitive question around disputes related to economic issues, property or land disputes and the like. Results varied widely across respondents in urban and rural areas. Respondents in urban areas would mainly solicit the help of the judiciary (14 percent), community leaders (10 percent), local government bodies (nine percent) or local political leaders (six percent); 54 percent did not respond. Those in rural areas would mainly seek the help of community leaders (62 percent); seven percent mentioned local government bodies; 22 percent did not respond. Persons or Institutions Most Trusted to Resolve Politically-Related Disputes Respondents were asked whether they had witnessed or experienced any other types of disputes in their community related to leadership, power or politics over the past two years.
Sixteen percent of those in urban areas and 18 percent in rural areas agreed that they
had (17 percent of all), and when these disputes were described it emerged that these
were mostly related to issues to do with landlords, housing stands and property
boundaries, sometimes driven or influenced by political allegiances. Forty percent of
those in urban areas who said that they had experienced or witnessed politically
motivated disputes over the last two years spoke of these types, and 59 percent of
their corresponding rural respondents did. Twenty-two percent of men and 13
percent of women had witnessed or experienced politically motivated disputes over
the past two years and this difference is significant. Of those who had, 52 percent of
the men (11 percent of all men) and 56 percent of the women (thus seven percent of
all women) spoke of clashes between the ruling (ZANU-PF) and the main opposition
party (MDC-T), while 46 percent of men and 39 percent of women spoke of other
types of local leadership wrangles (not related to political parties).
Those in Masvingo and Matabeleland North provinces were the most likely to agree
that they had witnessed disputes related to leadership, power or politics – 26 percent
and 24 percent respectively, compared with between 10 and 17 percent reporting
this in other provinces (the lowest, at 10 percent, being in Mashonaland Central).
58
Fifteen percent of the younger than 31 year olds, 21 percent of the 31-50 year olds,
23 percent of the 51-60 year olds and 14 percent of the older than 60s had witnessed
such disputes over this time period.
Whether or not they had recently or ever experienced these sort of conflicts or disputes, respondents were asked who they would trust most to impartially resolve disputes related to power, leadership and politics.
38 percent would go to the police (34 percent of urban and 40 percent of rural
respondents), 15 percent to local political leaders (12 percent urban, 16 percent
rural, significant at five percent level), 14 percent to community leaders (eight
percent urban 18 percent rural, significant at 5 percent level), eight percent to the
local judiciary (14 percent and five percent) and seven percent to other local
government bodies (eight percent urban, seven percent rural). Nine percent did not
know, more of those in urban (14 percent) than rural areas (seven percent).
59
XI. Livelihoods
Fifty-two percent of the sample believe Zimbabwe’s economy is bad (41 percent very bad and 19 percent fairly bad) compared with only 23 percent rating it as good, with most only rating it as fairly good (19 percent) rather than very good (four percent), as illustrated in Figure 14a. The urban populace rated it more critically than did their rural counterparts, with 41 percent of the former and 30 percent of the latter stating it was very bad. It is interesting that respondents rated their overall living conditions more favorably than they did the economy, as illustrated in Figure 14b, with over half of the population stating that it was either very good (four percent), fairly good (27 percent) or neither good nor bad (23 percent), and with differences between respondents in rural and urban areas being minor (and not statistically significant). Those in Bulawayo were less likely to rate their current living conditions as fairly or very good (29 percent) than were those in Harare (56 percent) and were more inclined to believe the economy of Zimbabwe would deteriorate in the coming year (42 percent) than did those in Harare (33 percent). Comparing responses from the eight mainly rural provinces, those in Manicaland were the most pessimistic (41 percent felt the economy would worsen) and most often rated their current living conditions as fairly or very bad (51 percent), whereas those living in Mashonaland Central rated their living conditions better than did others (49 percent good and 34 percent bad) and were less pessimistic about the future – 12 percent felt it would get worse, 16 percent said it would stay the same but the majority, 41 percent, did not know, this being the highest proportion of ‘don’t know’ responses recorded for the different provinces. Figure 14a: Perceptions of the economy
41
1917 17
2 3
30
1820 20
47
34
18 19 19
46
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Very bad Fairly bad Neither goodnor bad
Fairly good Very good Don't know
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
60
Figure 14b: Perceptions of current living standards
A similar trend is evident with respect to responses about the state of the economy of Zimbabwe since the end of the power-sharing government and the trajectory of respondents’ own living conditions since then. Respondents perceived their circumstances to have declined less so than the economy in general, indicating a degree of resilience (See Figures 15c and 15d). Indeed, over half the respondents say that their living conditions are good, very good or at least, neither good nor bad. Urban dwellers were more likely than those in the rural areas to rate the economy of Zimbabwe and their own living conditions as very bad since the end of the Government of National Unity (GNU). Thirteen percent of respondents from the rural areas rated their own living conditions as very good, compared with just 3 percent of those from the urban areas. Nineteen percent of Shona speakers, 20 percent of minority groups and 29 percent of Ndebele speakers rated the state of the economy since the end of the GNU as very bad.
23
2022
30
4
0
2322
2426
5
2
2321
23
27
4
1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Very bad Fairly bad Neither goodnor bad
Fairly good Very good Don't know
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
61
Figure 14c: Perceptions of the economy since the end of the GNU
Figure 14d: Perceptions of current living standards since the end of the GNU
And finally, respondents were asked how they thought the Zimbabwean economy would perform in the coming year, and how their personal economic situation might change in this
29
18
21
17
3
11
1618
23
19
5
1820
18
22
18
4
16
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Very bad Fairly bad Neither goodnor bad
Fairly good Very good Don't know
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
2019
25 25
3
6
15
19
25 25
3
13
1719
25 25
3
10
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Very bad Fairly bad Neither goodnor bad
Fairly good Very good Don't know
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
62
same time period. An almost equal proportion were pessimistic or optimistic about the economy, but with more of those based in the rural areas being unable to comment (see Figure 14e). Respondents exhibited more optimism about their own living conditions than they did about the economy in general, and this was so for those in urban and rural areas (see Figure 14f). Overall, 31 percent felt the economy in general would improve and 37 percent predicted an improvement in their own circumstances, with respective figures of 28 percent and 25 percent predicting a downturn, and the balance thinking it would either stay the same or did not know, as shown in Figure 14f; a higher proportion did not care to predict the economic situation for Zimbabwe than did those that could not predict their own circumstances. There was a positive trend in optimism about one’s own situation in the coming year by occupation from subsistence farmers or farm laborers (30 percent said it would get better) to unskilled workers (excluding farmers) (35 percent), to skilled workers (44 percent), although only 37 percent of those in management positions predicted an improvement while 36 percent anticipated a deterioration. For all these predictions, women tended to be more positive than were men and younger respondents (18-30 years) were more optimistic and positive than were older respondents. Figure 14e: Prediction of the economy in the next twelve months
35 34
15 16
29
26
16
2931
28
15
25
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Better Worse Same Don't know
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
63
Figure 14f: Prediction of personal economic situation in the next twelve months
Zimbabweans living in the rural areas more often believe that Zimbabwe is headed in the right direction, with the opposite being true of urbanites, as illustrated in Figure 15. Overall there was a slight balance in favor of those saying it was headed in the right direction. Almost a fifth did not know; just 1 percent declined to answer this question. Similar proportions of women and men believed it is headed in the right direction (41 percent and 44 percent respectively). Whereas 53 percent of 18-24 year olds did, this declined with age group, to 45 percent of 25-30 year olds, 42 percent of 31-40 year olds, 40 percent of 41-50 year olds, 38 percent of 51-60 year olds and 34 percent of the over 60 year olds. Forty-two percent of Shona speakers believe it is headed in the right and 38 percent in the wrong direction, with the reverse trend being true of Ndebele speakers (37 percent right, 49 percent wrong, while minority groups exhibited the most optimism (52 percent right, 38 percent wrong).
44
26
1713
34
2421 21
37
25
19 18
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Better Worse Same Don't know
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
64
Figure 15: Which way is Zimbabwe headed
Figures 16 and 17 below illustrate the most common reasons given by respondents to explain their response to Figure 15 above. While increased access to commodities and to education, along with declining political violence, and increased harmony and financial stability from the ongoing use of the multi-currency regime were the main indicators of optimism among Zimbabweans, the lack of job opportunities and one’s own personal financial situation coupled with the high price of goods and an increasing level of corruption were the most common anxieties exhibited by those who felt pessimistic about the direction in which the country was headed.
37
45
16
2
45
36
19
0
4239
18
10
10
20
30
40
50
Right direction Wrong direction Don't know Refused
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
65
Figure 16: Primary reasons Zimbabwe is headed in the right direction
21
16
14 14
1211 11
10 10
87 7
4
17 17
8
17
8 8
6
11
2
1314
56
22
16 16
1314
1213
9
13
6
4
7
2
0
5
10
15
20
25P
erce
nt
All Urban Rural
66
Figure 17: Primary reasons Zimbabwe is headed in the wrong direction
56
18
2523
25
1416
3 41 1
51
42
2119
9
14 1316
11
5 6
53
33
22 21
15 14 1411
8 7 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
67
Figure 18 clearly illustrates the similarity between Zimbabweans who reside in the urban and rural areas with respect to the importance that they accord, relatively, to democracy and prosperity. Democracy emerges as definitely more important, based on these survey results, for a larger proportion of the population (40 percent) than does prosperity, which 30 percent rated as definitely more important than democracy. There was no significant difference between women’s and men’s impressions, other than with respect to the proportion of men and women who did not know – five percent and 12 percent respectively. By province, those based in Matabeleland South and in Manicaland favored democracy over prosperity to a greater degree (58 percent and 57 percent respectively) than did those in other provinces. Respondents in Mashonaland West were the least inclined to – 35 percent versus 46 percent who favored prosperity (17 percent did not know and 2 percent refused to answer this question). Fifty-one percent of the 18-24 year olds favored prosperity over democracy (40 percent), but this trend changed with age, with respective figures of 48 percent and 47 percent (25-30 year olds), 39 percent and 52 percent (31-40s), 43 percent and 49 percent (41-50 year olds), 40 percent versus 51 percent (51-60 year olds) and 38 percent versus 46 percent for the over 60s. There was no significant trend in perceptions according to level of education of respondents. Figure 18: Importance of democracy versus prosperity
40
7
13
31
7
1
40
8
13
29
9
1
40
8
13
30
9
1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Democracydefinitely
moreimportant
Democracysomewhat
moreimportant
Prosperitysomewhat
moreimportant
Prosperitydefinitely
moreimportant
Don't know Refused
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
69
XII. The New Constitution of Zimbabwe Awareness and Sources of Awareness of the Constitution
75 percent of respondents in urban and 67 percent in rural areas – 70 percent overall
– had heard of the new constitution of Zimbabwe, and awareness was positively
correlated with educational levels, ranging from 58 percent of those with no
education or only a partial primary level of schooling to an awareness of 91 percent
for those who had university degrees.
77 percent of those in Harare had heard of the new constitution, compared with 62
percent of those in Bulawayo. There were significant differences between the eight
rural provinces, too, as illustrated in Figure 19 below. Awareness is lowest in
Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South.
Shona speakers were significantly more likely to have heard of the new constitution
(74 percent) than were Ndebele speakers (47 percent) or minority groups (61
percent).
77 percent of men and 63 percent of women had heard of the new constitution.
65 percent of 18-24 year olds, 68 percent of 25-30 year olds and 60 percent of over
60 year olds had heard of the new constitution, compared with between 73-79
percent of the age groups in between 31-59 years (79 percent of the 31-40 year olds
had).
Those Zimbabweans who had never had a job were significantly less likely to have
heard of the new constitution (57 percent) than had those in employment (for
example, 72 percent of subsistence farmers / farm laborers, 67 percent of unskilled
workers, 79 percent of skilled workers, 85 percent of management-level personnel
and 96 percent of professionals had). This suggests that the new constitution is
discussed at places of employment.
70
Figure 19: Percentage of Zimbabweans aware of the constitution, by province
Figure 20 illustrates that family and friends, and then the radio, have been the most important channels for creating awareness of the new constitution. In rural areas, the following had been significantly more important in creating awareness than in urban areas: presidential speeches (46 percent versus 36 percent); MPs (35 percent versus 22 percent); local councilors (52 percent versus 23 percent); traditional leaders (46 percent versus 18 percent), constitutional outreach meetings (42 percent versus 31 percent) and community meetings (51 percent versus 20 percent). Conversely, in urban areas the following sources (mainly those related to the media) were significantly more important than in rural areas: NGOs (16 percent versus 9 percent); posters or pamphlets (58 percent versus 35 percent); the radio (71 percent versus 64 percent); newspapers (70 percent versus 25 percent); social media (28 percent versus 6 percent) and television (76 percent versus 24 percent).
77
62
49
57
77
83 85 86
27
39
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Per
cen
t
Province
71
Figure 20: Sources of awareness of the constitution
Awareness of Sources of Information on the Constitution Fifteen percent of respondents knew where to go to learn about the new constitution, 19 percent of those in urban and 14 percent in rural areas and 19 percent of men and 12 percent of women, most often citing government ministries, parliament, the police or elected officials (87 percent) with few mentioning any other one source. There was a significant increase in knowledge of places to go to learn about it with increasing levels of education, from whether a respondent had completed four years of secondary school education (17 percent knew where to go), or had been educated beyond this level (25 percent of those who had had six years of secondary schooling and 38 percent of those currently studying for a diploma or a degree, and 40 percent of those with a diploma or degree).
Participation by Zimbabweans in the Development of the Constitution
A fifth of the urbanites and 26 percent of respondents living in rural areas reported that they’d participated in discussions when the constitution was being drafted; 21 percent of all respondents said that they had. Twenty-seven percent of men and 20 percent of women had. There was a significant decline in participation as educational level increased, up until four years of secondary schooling, and then an increase was observed:
31 percent of those with no formal schooling or only a primary level of schooling had
participated compared with:
21 percent of those who had been schooled for one to three years at a secondary level;
11
14
22
30
36
38
39
40
40
42
43
43
43
67
72
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Nongovernmental organization
Social media
Religious leader
Members of parliament
Traditional leader
COPAC outreach meeting
The president
Newspaper
Community meeting (other than COPAC)
Local councilor
A political party
Poster or pamphlet
Television
Radio
Family and friends
Percent
72
18 percent of those who had completed four years of secondary schooling;
15 percent of those who had completed six years at secondary school; and
33 percent of those at a tertiary level institution or who had completed a tertiary level
of education had participated.
Thirteen percent of 18-24 year olds had participated in discussions, compared with 21 percent of the 25-30 year olds, 27 percent of the 31-40s, 17 percent of the 41-50s, 39 percent of the 51-60s and 31 percent of the over 60 year olds; thus, there was no definite trend by age group. Education on, and Comprehension of, the Constitution
Although 70 percent of respondents were aware of the new constitution (75 percent
in urban and 67 percent in rural areas), only 28 percent of these 70 percent (thus a
fifth of all respondents) had been educated on it; 25 percent of those who knew of the
constitution in urban areas and 30 percent in rural areas, thus 19 percent of all urban
and a fifth of all those in rural areas.
Of the, 77 percent of men and 63 percent of women who had heard of the new
constitution, a respective 31 percent and 24 percent had been educated on it (thus 24
percent of all men and 15 percent of all women).
Eighty percent of those who had been educated on the new constitution had been taught about it in their main home language (71 percent in urban and a significantly higher 85 percent in the rural areas). Eighty-two percent of those who speak Shona or a minority language (including English) as their main language had been educated in their main home language, while only 62 percent of Ndebele speakers had. Forty-five percent of Zimbabweans who know about the new constitution believe it is easy to understand (no significant differences between respondents in rural and urban areas); 38 percent do not and the remainder, 17 percent, do not know if it is or not. As educational level of respondents increases, so does the perception that it is easy to understand for ordinary Zimbabweans. Respondents were asked to name three important things in the new constitution.
Most often, women’s rights and gender equality were named (19 percent) – with no
difference between men and women, followed by:
Freedom of worship (12 percent);
Children’s rights (nine percent);
Right to education (eight percent);
Human rights (eight percent);
Right to justice (seven percent);
73
Right to vote (seven percent, mentioned by a higher proportion of urbanites than
those in rural areas); and
At four percent each, freedom of expression, right to land and the forbidding of
homosexuality.
Six percent of the respondents in urban areas but only two percent of those in rural areas mentioned the limitation of the presidential term of office.
Perceptions of, and Adherence to, the Constitution
A tenth of all respondents who knew of the new constitution (with no significant difference according to whether they lived in urban or rural areas) felt that there were things in the new constitution that should not be there, most often citing the following in this respect:
Gender equality (“We are no longer allowed to discipline our wives”), mentioned by 40
percent of these respondents, but equating to 2.8 percent of all respondents and by
4.2 percent of the male respondents and 0.9 percent of women (who believe women
should be subordinate to men);
The criminalization of homosexuality (less than one percent); and
The abolition of the death penalty (less than one percent).
Respondents were asked if they knew what the new constitution said about various things. Figure 21 illustrates the proportion that agreed they did. Significant differences were observed between the urban and rural populations’ knowledge with regard to the freedom of assembly, the freedom of expression, right to justice, custody and guardianship of children for men and women, rights of the disabled and rights for war veterans (with respect to the proportion who did not know if they fully understood what the constitution said about these rights – 13 percent urban and eight percent rural). Other than the piece in the constitution that deals with the rights of veterans of the liberation war, and on entitlement to property or land, where educational level had no bearing on the proportion who knew about and understood what was said about these rights, there was a positive correlation with awareness and understanding of specific elements of the constitution and education level of respondents. Men were significantly more aware of each element than were women.
74
Figure 21: Respondents who know and understand specific elements of the constitution
Respondents were asked for their opinions on a range of statements about the new constitution (see Figure 22). Almost equal proportions either thought that it meets the needs of all Zimbabweans, or some needs of Zimbabweans, with only 7 percent saying that it does not and with 19 percent not knowing if it does or not. Rural Zimbabweans more often think it meets the needs of all Zimbabweans (42 percent) than do urbanites (28 percent), who more often think it meets some of the needs (49 percent versus 30 percent of rural respondents believing this). Less well educated Zimbabweans are more inclined to think that it does (for example, 34 percent of those who had been at secondary school for one to three years, 48 percent of those with four years’ secondary schooling) than those who had been educated to a further level (a respective 26 percent, 22 percent and 21 percent for those with six years’ secondary schooling, those at university or college and those with a degree).
43
57 5862
5862
44
57
40
49
59
5351 52
46
59
41
51
5856
5456
45
58
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Per
cen
t
Urban Rural All
75
Rural Zimbabweans are also more inclined than are those from urban areas to think that it will improve their standard of living (57 percent versus 42 percent), with the latter more likely to think it will have no effect (30 percent, versus 13 percent of those in the rural areas). Men are more likely than are women (10 percent versus 5 percent) to believe that it will not. More respondents from rural areas did not know whether the constitution would affect their everyday life (18 percent) than those from urban areas (11 percent), but similar proportions (50 percent and 49 percent) expect that it will. Rural respondents are more likely than their urban counterparts to believe that the constitution will protect their political and socio-economic rights but there were no significant differences between the two populations regarding its protection of one’s cultural rights. Men are more likely than are women to think that the constitution will not protect their various rights (socio-economic, political or cultural). Rural respondents are more likely than those in urban areas to think that the constitution was developed in an inclusive and participatory manner (58 percent versus 51 percent). The same trend according to education level as described above concerning whether the constitution is for all Zimbabweans was observed with respect to the aforementioned opinions; as educational level increased, opinions of the constitution became less favorable. Figure 22: Perceptions of the constitution
Figure 23a illustrates respondents’ opinions as to whether the constitution is respected and adhered to by leaders and people of influence in Zimbabwe. While the majority (45 percent) believe that it is, a large proportion (30 percent) do not know. Respondents in rural areas
38
5259 59 62
66
37
19
0 0 0 07 7
34
16 13 1219
0
16
24 2521
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Per
cen
t th
at a
gree
Yes Partial or neutral No Don't know
76
are significantly more likely to believe that it is (48 percent) than are those who live in urban areas (40 percent). Men were more likely than were women to say that the constitution is not respected and adhered to by leaders and people of influence in Zimbabwe (29 percent versus 18 percent) and women more often did not know (34 percent) than did men (27 percent). Figure 23a: Perceptions as to whether the constitution is respected and adhered to
Figure 23b and 23c show the similarity in responses when people were asked how authority and how decision-making should be exercised. Most believe that these should both be exercised through the constitution, or by parliament, with more believing that decision-making should be exercised through parliament than stating that parliament is responsible for exercising authority. Significant differences were evident between those in the urban and rural areas with respect to opinions about the exercising of authority and of decision making. Whereas 62 percent of those in urban areas state that authority should be exercised through a constitution, and with 53 percent stating that decision-making should be exercised through the constitution, a respective 43 percent and 37 percent of those in the rural areas responded thus, with this group being more likely than the urbanites to state that authority and decision-making be exercised through parliament. More rural than urban respondents did not know, however (26 percent of rural and 19 percent of urban dwellers did not know through which channel authority should be exercised, and a respective 21 percent and 12 percent did not know through whom or what decision-making should be exercised).
45%
24%
30 %
1%
Yes
Partial/neutral
No
Don't know
77
Women were more likely than were men to agree that authority should be exercised by those who fought for Zimbabwe’s liberation (three percent women, one percent men). Figure 23b: How authority should be exercised
50%
4%2%3%
23%
18%
1%
Through the constitution Through political parties Through liberation fighters
Through traditional leaders Through parliament Don't know
Refused to answer
78
Figure 23c: How decision-making should be exercised
Finally, when asked who they thought the new constitution was made for, 87 percent stated that it was made for all Zimbabwean citizens; six percent named politicians, two percent lawyers and judges and one percent others. Six percent do not know and one percent refused to respond to this question.
42%
4%1%2%
32%
18%
1%
Through the constitution Through political parties Through liberation fighters
Through traditional leaders Through parliament Don't know
Refused to answer
79
Appendix I: Questionnaire QRE NO.______
Questionnaire: Zimbabwe National Public Opinion Survey
INTRODUCTION TO ANY ADULT IN HOUSEHOLD WHO IS THERE, PREFERABLY
THE HEAD IF HE/SHE IS AT HOME.
Good morning. My name is _________ from Target Research. We are an independent research
organization, and are conducting a survey to find out about people’s opinions about various
matters to do with trends in standard of living, satisfaction with service delivery and utilities etc.
The ward and this household has been chosen at random. Everything that people say will be
treated confidentially and the names of those who participated will not be given to anyone else,
nor recorded on this questionnaire. My supervisor is with me/may come back with me to see if I
did my work properly but no one else will be able to associate you or this household with any
information. There are no right or wrong answers either.
RECORD REFUSALS BELOW (ONE TICK PER BOX PER HOUSEHOLD WHERE YOU
ENCOUNTER A REFUSAL)
REF/
FIELDWORKER INTERVIEWER NO. 1/ __________ SUPERVISOR NO: 2/ _____
Start Point Number 3/ __________ Household No within Start Point (1-10) 4/________
GPS Co-ordinate for this starting Point (get from supervisor)
5/___________________________
GPS Co-ordinate for this household
6/___________________________________________________
Province Prov
10/
District (write
in)
11/
Ward
No
12/.
Ward Name
13/
Village name
City/town
name
14/
Harare 1
Bulawayo 2
Mash Central 3
Mash West 4
Mash East 5
Midlands 6
Masvingo 7
Manicaland 8
Mat South 9
Mat North 10
80
OFFICE QRE checked by: _________ Date:_________ Data Entry by:__________
Date______
QS01 Record gender – DO NOT ASK. 20/
Male 1
Female 2
QS02 Record race – DO NOT ASK. 21/
White 1
Black 2
Coloured 3
Indian 4
QS03 Record LOCATION 23/
Urban 1
Rural 2
DEMOGRAPHICS
Which of these age groups do you fit into? (READ OUT)
25/
18-24 1
25-30 2
31-40 3
41-50 4
51-60 5
61+ 6
Refused 99
Which language is your main home language?
Asked in August 2012 survey 26/
Shona 1
Ndebele 2
Venda 3
Kalanga 4
Tonga 5
Nambya 6
English 7
Chewa 8
Chibarwe 9
Koisan 10
Ndau 11
Shangani 12
Sotho 13
81
Tswana 14
Xhosa 15
Sign Language 16
Other (Specify): 17
What is the highest level of education you have completed? [Code from answer. Do not read
options]
Asked in August 2012 survey 27/
No formal schooling 1
Informal schooling (including Quranic schooling) 2
Some primary schooling 3
Primary schooling completed 4
Some secondary schooling 5
Secondary up to Form Four 6
Secondary schooling completed (Form 6) 7
Post-secondary qualifications, other than university (technical schooling) 8
Some university 9
University completed 10
Post-graduate 11
Refused 99
4a. What is your marital status?
Marital Status 28/
Married 1
Single 2
Divorced/Widowed 3
Co-habiting/not legally married 4
Not given 5
4b. What is your position in the household?
Position in the household 29/
Head of household 1
Spouse of head of household 2
Child of head of household 3
Other relative of head or wife of household 4
Non relative 5
Other (Specify): 6
5. Do you have any children? If so, how many? Record “0” if no children.
Children 30/
Number of children 30/
82
6. What is your religion?
Religion 31/
Muslim 1
Christian 2
Jewish 3
Hindu 4
Traditional 5
None 6
Other (Specify): 7
7. Do you have a job? If YES, is it full-time or part-time? If NO, are you looking for a job?
(Note: Probe for informal and formal sector jobs. Both qualify as a job).
Asked in August 2012 survey 32/
No (not looking) 1
No (looking) 2
Yes, part-time 3
Yes, full-time 4
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
8. What is your main occupation? (If unemployed, retired, or disabled, what was your last main
occupation?) [Do not read options. Code from responses.]
Asked in August 2012 survey Code 34
Never had a job 00
Agrarian/Agriculture
Subsistence farmer (produces only for home consumption) 01
Peasant farmer (produces for home consumption and some surplus for
sale) 02
Small scale commercial farmer (produces mainly for sale at market) 03
Medium scale commercial farmer 04
Large scale commercial farmer 05
Farm worker 06
Worker
Fisherman 07
Trader/Hawker/Vendor 08
Miner 09
Domestic worker/Maid/Char/House help 10
Armed services/Police/Security personnel 11
Artisan/skilled manual worker in the formal economy 12
Artisan/skilled manual worker in the informal economy 13
Clerical worker 14
83
Unskilled manual worker in the formal economy 15
Unskilled manual worker in the informal economy 16
Professional
Businessperson (works in a company for others) 17
Businessperson (owns small business of less than 10 employees) 18
Businessperson (owns large business of 10 employees or more) 19
Mid-level professional worker (e.g. bookkeeper, nurse, teacher, etc.) 20
Upper-level professional worker (e.g. lawyer, doctor, engineer, university
professor) 21
Manager/Foreman/Supervisor 22
Other (Specify): 23
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
9. How often do you use the following (tick all that apply): READ OUT
CODE
Several
times a
day
Once
per day
Once in
2-3 days
Once a
week
Less 1 x
per
week
Never
A mobile phone 35/ /1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /6
A computer 36/ /1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /6
The Internet 37/ /1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /6
Radio 38/ /1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /6
Newspaper 39/ /1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /6
Television 40/ /1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /6
Attend community
meetings 41/ /1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /6
SERVICE DELIVERY ISSUES
10. In your opinion, what are the three (3) most important service delivery problems facing
Zimbabwe, in order of importance? I am not talking about any problems you face but rather
problems to do with services supposed to be provided by local or national government? (DO
NOT READ RESPONSES) RECORD IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE (/1, /2, /3).
10b. FOR EACH ONE MENTIONED ASK: What are the things that cause service delivery to
be poor?(ONLY FILL IN FOR THOSE INDICATED)
10c. Who should be held responsible for providing this service or of improving upon it? (ONLY
FILL IN FOR /1, /2, AND /3.)
a. Problems: First, Second, and Third
Choice Code
b. Why do you
believe this
service is
poor?
c. Who should be
held responsible for
providing this
service?
Lack of clean water 50/
84
Poor waste water/sewage disposal 51/
Inadequate housing (including council
housing) 52/
Lack of electricity 53/
Inadequate access to health care
(including council clinics) 54/
Unaffordable medical attention 55/
Clinics are too far away/long distance to
get medical attention 56/
Inadequate access to land 57/
Lack or/poor public transportation 58/
Poor infrastructure/roads 59/
Lack of quality education 60/
Expensive education/school fees too high 61/
Schools are too far away 62/
Inadequate sanitation 63/
Orphans/street children 66/
Crime/insecurity 67/
Poor refuse collection and disposal from
home/business 68/
Poor street lighting 69/
Inadequate public spaces (for example,
parks, play grounds) 70/
Poor issuing of shop licenses 71/
Poor allocation of market stalls 72/
Poor provision of public toilets 73/
Agricultural advice and support 74/
Veterinary service support including dip
tanks 75/
Other (Specify): 76
Don’t know 85
Refused 86
11. Based on your own experience, how easy or difficult is it for you to obtain a birth certificate?
200/
Very difficult 1
Difficult 2
Easy 3
Very easy 4
Have not tried 5
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
85
12. Based on your own experience, how easy or difficult is it for you to obtain a national identity
card?
201/
Very difficult 1
Difficult 2
Easy 3
Very easy 4
Have not tried 5
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
13. Generally speaking, if you had a problem or needed help, and it could not be solved within
your circle of friends or family, to whom would you go for assistance, advice, or resolution?
Who would you go to First, and Second, and Third? (DO NOT READ OUT)
First
Choice
Second
Choice
Third
Choice
202/ 203/ 204/
Village Head/Sabuku 1 1 1
Chief 2 2 2
Religious leader 3 3 3
Church member/church group 4 4 4
Teacher/school head 5 5 5
Local councilor 6 6 6
District Administrator 7 7 7
Local political party member (excluding war veterans) 8 8 8
Member of Village/Ward/Provincial development committee 9 9 9
War veteran 10 10 10
Member of Provincial Government 11 11 11
Member of Parliament 12 12 12
Government Minister 13 13 13
Other (Specify): 14 14 14
Don’t know 98 98 98
Refused 99 99 99
14a. Do you prefer your local traditional leaders to have a secondary education or higher?
205/
Yes 1
No, does not matter 2
Refused 99
Not applicable 100
86
14b. Do you prefer your local elected leaders to have a secondary education or higher?
206/
Yes 1
No , does not matter 2
Refused 99
Not applicable 100
15a. Do you prefer your local traditional leaders to have liberation credentials?
207/
Yes 1
No, does not matter 2
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
Not applicable 100
15b. Do you prefer your local elected leaders to have liberation credentials?
208/
Yes 1
No , does not matter 2
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
Not applicable 100
16. In your opinion, do citizens of Zimbabwe have a duty to participate in any of the following:
(READ OUT)
Duty Code Yes No Don’t know Refused to
answer
Pay rates and taxes 209/ 1 2 98 99
Register to vote 210/ 1 2 98 99
Voting 211/ 1 2 98 99
Influence government
decisions 212/ 1 2 98 99
Be informed 213/ 1 2 98 99
Join a political party 214/ 1 2 98 99
Join a local community group 215/ 1 2 98 99
Join the military 216/ 1 2 98 99
87
RELATIONSHIP WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT
17. Thinking about the following institutions and people, would you say you approve or
disapprove of the job they are doing? (Read out each institution or person)
Institution Strongly
Approve Approve
Dis-
approve
Strongly
Disapprove
Don’t
know
Refused
to
answer
Code
Members of
Parliament 1 2 4 5 98 99 220/
Executive
(Ministers) 1 2 4 5 98 99 221/
Local councilors 1 2 4 5 98 99 222/
Traditional leaders 1 2 4 5 98 99 223/
Church/religious
leader 98 224/
Provincial/ward/vil
lage development
committee
1 2 4 5 98 99 225/
Political party you
support 1 2 4 5 98 99 226/
Police 1 2 4 5 98 99 227/
The judiciary 1 2 4 5 98 99 228/
Civil society 1 2 4 5 98 99 229/
State media 1 2 4 5 98 99 230/
Independent media 1 2 3 4 98 99 231/
The African Union 1 2 4 5 98 99 232/
SADC 1 2 4 5 98 99 233/
18. Now we are going to ask for your level of agreement or disagreement to various statements
or your position on various issues. (READ OUT)
Statement/Issues Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Don’t
Know
Refused
to
answer
Code
Elected councilors
from my
constituency are
accessible to the
general public.
1 2 4 5
98
99
240/
Elected councilors
from my
constituency are
regularly working
for the benefit of
1 2 4 5
98
99
241/
88
the common
people.
Elected councilors
from my
constituency have
made a positive
impact on my
quality of life.
1 2 4 5
98
99
242/
Elected councilors
from my
constituency are
poor leaders.
1 2 4 5
98
99
243/
Elected councilors
from my
constituency are
honest.
1 2 4 5
98
99
244/
Elected councilors
from my
constituency are
responsive to my
needs.
1 2 4 5
98
99
245/
19. In your opinion what are the three most important primary responsibilities of your local
councilors, in order of importance? Any others? DO NOT READ RESPONSES. RECORD IN
ORDER OF IMPORTANCE (/1, /2, /3). (MULTIPLE ANSWERS ACCEPTABLE)
Code
Passing laws 250/
Holding the central government accountable 251/
Carrying out the demands of central government 252/
Financial oversight of the government 253/
Supporting/Implementing political party policy 254/
Resolving constituent problems 255/
Listening to constituent problems and passing them onto the central
government 256/
Other (Specify): 257/
Don’t know 258/
Refused 259/
ASK URBAN RESIDENTS ONLY. IF RURAL, SKIP to Q20b.
20a. Have you consulted a traditional leader in the last two years?
270/
Yes (GO TO Q 20b) 01
No (SKIP TO Q21) 02
89
IF YES, in which Province 275/______________ District in the province 276/_____________
20b. Now we are going to ask you your level of agreement or disagreement to various statements
or your position on various issues. (READ OUT)
Statement/Issues Code Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Don’t
Know
Refused to
answer
Traditional leaders
from my constituency
are accessible to the
general public.
280/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Traditional leaders
from my constituency
are regularly working
for the benefit of the
common people.
281/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Traditional leaders
from my constituency
have made a positive
impact on my quality
of life.
282/ 1 2 4 5 9 99
Traditional leaders
from my constituency
are poor leaders. 283/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Traditional leaders
from my constituency
are honest. 284/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Traditional leaders
from my constituency
are responsive to my
needs.
285/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
20c. In your opinion what are the three most important primary responsibilities of your
traditional leaders, in order of importance? RECORD IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE (/1, /2,
/3). MULTIPLE ANSWERS ACCEPTABLE. (DO NOT READ OUT)
Code
Passing laws 290/
Holding the central government accountable 291/
Carrying out the demands of central government 292/
Financial oversight of the government 293/
Supporting/Implementing political party policy 294/
Resolving constituent problems 295/
Listening to constituent problems and passing them onto the central
government 296/
Other (Specify): 297/
Don’t know 298/
90
Refused 299/
20d. In your opinion, should traditional leaders be elected by members of the community?
300
Yes 1
No 2
No opinion 98
Refused 99
21a. Now we are going to ask you your level of agreement or disagreement to various statements
or your position on various issues. Please respond using one of the following choices – strongly
agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. (READ OUT STATEMENTS)
Statement/Issues Code Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Don’t
know
Refused
to answer
Development
Committee members
from my ward are
accessible to the
general public.
310/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Development
Committee members
from my ward are
regularly working for
the benefit of the
common people.
311/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Development
Committee members
from my ward have
made a positive
impact on my quality
of life.
312/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Development
Committee members
from my ward are
poor leaders.
313/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Development
Committee members
from my ward are
honest.
314/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Development
Committee members
from my ward are
responsive to my
needs.
315/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
91
21b. In your opinion what are the primary responsibilities of ward development committees?
(DO NOT READ OUT. MULTIPLE RESPONSES ACCEPTABLE)
Code
Passing laws 320
Holding the central government accountable 321
Carrying out the demands of central government 322
Financial oversight of the government 323
Supporting/Implementing political party policy 324
Resolving constituent problems 325
Listening to constituent problems and passing them onto the central
government 326
Other (Specify): 327
Don’t know 328
Refused 329
22a. Is there a Residents’ Association in your community?
330/
Yes 1
No (Skip to Q 26) 2
Don’t know (Skip to Q 26) 98
Refused 99
22b. Now we are going to ask you your level of agreement or disagreement to various statements
or your position on various issues. (READ OUT)
Statement/Issues Code Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Don’t
know
Refused
to
answer
Residents’
Associations from my
community are
accessible to the
general public.
340/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Residents’
Associations members
from my community
are regularly working
for the benefit of the
common people.
341/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Residents’
Associations members
from my community 342/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
92
have made a positive
impact on my quality
of life.
Residents’
Associations members
from my community
are poor leaders.
343/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Residents’
Associations members
from my community
are honest.
344/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
Residents’
Associations members
from my community
are responsive to my
needs.
345/ 1 2 4 5 98 99
22c. In your opinion what are the primary responsibilities of Residents’ Associations? (DO NOT
READ OUT. MULTIPLE RESPONSES ACCEPTABLE)
Code
Passing laws 350
Holding the central government accountable 351
Carrying out the demands of central government 352
Financial oversight of the government 353
Supporting/Implementing political party policy 354
Resolving constituent problems 355
Listening to constituent problems and passing them onto the central
government 356
Other (Specify): 357
Don’t know 358
Refused 359
WOMEN AND YOUTH IN DECISION-MAKING
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Politicians do not listen to the needs
and ideas of women”? Please respond using one of the following choices – strongly agree,
agree, disagree or strongly disagree.
360/
Strongly Agree 1
Agree 2
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 4
Don’t know 98
Refused to answer 99
93
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Women are adequately represented in
the local decision-making positions in Zimbabwe”? Please respond using one of the following
choices – strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree.
361/
Strongly Agree 1
Agree 2
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 4
Don’t know 98
Refused to answer 99
If there are two candidates running for office and they are exactly the same aside from the fact
that one is a man and one is a woman, which candidate would you prefer?
362/
Man 1
Woman 2
It does not make a difference to me 3
Refused to answer 99
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “A woman can be elected President of
Zimbabwe”? Please respond using one of the following choices – strongly agree, agree,
disagree or strongly disagree.
363/
Yes 1
No 2
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
The new Constitution mandated a temporary (described as for the duration of the first two
Parliaments after the Constitution comes into force) quota system (an additional 60 women) to
increase the representation of women in Parliament. Should the quota system be made
permanent?
364/
Yes 1
No 2
Don’t Know 98
Refused 99
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Women have the same opportunities
for promotion as men in Zimbabwe”? Please respond using one of the following choices –
strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree.
94
365/
Strongly Agree 1
Agree 2
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 4
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Women make good political leaders”.
Please respond using one of the following choices – strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly
disagree.
366/
Strongly Agree 1
Agree 2
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 4
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Politicians do not listen to the needs
and ideas of youths”? (Youth are those up to 30 years). Please respond using one of the
following choices – strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree.
367/
Strongly Agree 1
Agree 2
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 4
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Youths (aged up to 30) are adequately
represented in the local decision-making positions in Zimbabwe”? Please respond using one of
the following choices – strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree.
368/
Strongly Agree 1
Agree 2
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 4
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
95
If there are two candidates running for office and they are exactly the same aside from the fact
that one is a youth and one is not, which candidate would you prefer?
369/
Youth 1
Non-Youth 2
It does not make a difference to me 3
Refused 99
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Youths make good political leaders”?
Please respond using one of the following choices – strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly
disagree
370/
Strongly Agree 1
Agree 2
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 4
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
PARTICIPATION
Are you interested in participating in community discussions or decision-making?
375/
Yes, interested 1
No, not interested 2
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
Do you know how to participate in community discussions or decision-making?
376/
Yes 1
No 2
Refused 99
How many times have you participated in community discussions or decision-making?
377/
Never 1
Once or twice 2
A few times 3
Often 4
Refused 99
96
37a. Do you feel that you are able to participate freely in community discussions or decision-
making?
378/
Yes 1
No 2
Refused 99
37b. Do you feel that people respect your opinions when you participate in community
discussions or decision-making? (OR, IF THEY DO NOT PARTICIPATE ASK: Do you feel
that people would listen to and respect your opinions if you participates in community
discussions or decision-making?
378/
Yes 1
No 2
Refused 99
38a. If you have ever contacted an elected official in the last two years, which methods of
communication did you use? (DO NOT READ OUT. MULTIPLE CODES OK)
Code
Visit in person 380
Via Text/SMS/WhatsApp 381
Via E-mail 382
Via Letter 383
Via website 384
Via a proxy (for example, an NGO or community elders) 385
Via a radio/television hotline 386
Town hall meeting 387
Have never contacted 388
Other (Specify): 389
Not applicable, did not contact an official (CODE and SKIP TO Q39a) 390
Refused 391
38b. If so, what was the issue you were concerned about the last time you contacted this official?
Code
(open-ended)
38c. Did you receive a response?
420/
Yes 1
No (CODE AND SKIP TO Q39a) 2
Don’t remember (CODE AND SKIP TO Q39a) 98
97
Refused (CODE AND SKIP TO Q39a) 99
38d. If so, were you satisfied with the response you received?
421/
Yes 1
No 2
Refused 99
39a. If you have ever contacted a traditional leader in the last two years, which methods of
communication did you use? (DO NOT READ OUT, CODE ALL THAT APPLY)
Code
Visit in person visit 422
Via Text/SMS/WhatsApp 423
Via E-mail 424
Via Letter 425
Via website (including Facebook) 426
Via a proxy (for example, an NGO or community elders) 427
Via a radio/television hotline 428
Town hall meeting 429
Have never contacted 430
Other (Specify): 431
Not applicable, did not contact an official (CODE and SKIP TO Q40a) 432
Don’t know 433
Refused 434
39b. If so, what was the issue you were concerned about the last time you contacted a traditional
leader?
Code
(open-ended)
39c. Did you receive a response?
450/
Yes 1
No (CODE AND SKIP TO Q40a) 2
Don’t remember (CODE AND SKIP TO Q40a) 98
Refused (CODE AND SKIP TO Q40a) 99
39d. If so, were you satisfied with the response you received?
451/
Yes 1
98
No 2
Refused 99
40a. If you have ever contacted a Resident’s Association in the last two years, which methods of
communication did you use? Any others? (DO NOT READ OUT. MULTIPLE
RESPONSES OK)
Code
Visit in person visit 455
Via Text/SMS/WhatsApp 456
Via E-mail 457
Via Letter 458
Via website 459
Via a proxy (for example, an NGO or community elders) 460
Via a radio/television hotline 461
Town hall meeting 462
Have never contacted 463
Other (Specify): 464
Not applicable, did not contact residents assoc. (CODE and SKIP TO Q41) 465
Don’t know 466
Refused 467
40b. If so, what was the issue you were concerned about the last time you contacted them?
Code
(open-ended)
40c. Did you receive a response?
480/
Yes 1
No (CODE AND SKIP TO Q41) 2
Don’t know (CODE AND SKIP TO Q41) 98
Refused (CODE AND SKIP TO Q41) 99
40 d. If so, were you satisfied with the response you received?
481/
Yes 01
No 02
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
99
41. In your opinion, what should councilors, traditional leaders and development committee
members do to improve communication with constituents? (DO NOT READ OUT.
MULTIPLE RESPONSES OK)
Code
Hold public meetings with constituents to answer their questions 487
Provide opportunities to meet with constituents privately 488
Email constituents more 489
SMS constituents more 490
Appear more often on TV 491
Appear more often on radio 492
Appear more often in newspapers 493
Deliver leaflets / newsletters 494
Use Social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter) 495
Maintain an up-to-date website 496
Other (Specify): 497
Don’t know 498
Refused 499
42. How would you prefer to communicate with your local council, traditional leaders and
development committee members? Any others? (DO NOT READ OUT. MULTIPLE
RESPONSES OK)
Code
Letter 500
Phone call 501
SMS 502
E-mail 503
In person 504
Via a proxy (for example, an NGO or community elders) 505
Through the media (newspaper, radio show) 506
Town hall/Community meetings 507
Social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter) 508
Other (Specify): 509
No preference 510
Refused 511
43. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “Voting gives me a chance to
influence decision-making within Zimbabwe.” Please respond using one of the following
choices – strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree.
520/
Strongly Agree 1
Agree 2
100
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 4
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
CONSTITUTION
44. Have you ever heard of the Constitution of Zimbabwe?
521/
Yes 1
No (Skip to 46g) 2
Refused 99
45. Have you heard about the constitution from each of the following sources? (READ OUT)
Code Yes No Don’t
know Refused
Family and friends 522/ 1 2 98 99
The President 523/ 1 2 98 99
A political party 524/ 1 2 98 99
Constitutional outreach meeting 525/ 1 2 98 99
Your Member of Parliament 526/ 1 2 98 99
Your local councilor 527/ 1 2 98 99
Traditional leader 528/ 1 2 98 99
Religious leader 529/ 1 2 98 99
NGO 530/ 1 2 98 99
Community meeting (Not COPAC meeting) 531/ 1 2 98 99
Poster or pamphlet 532/ 1 2 98 99
Radio 533/ 1 2 98 99
Newspaper 534/ 1 2 98 99
Social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter) 535/ 1 2 98 99
Television 536/ 1 2 98 99
46a.Have you been educated on the new Constitution?
540/
Yes (Go to Question 46b) 1
No (Go to Question 46c) 2
Don’t know (Go to Question 46c) 98
Refused (Go to Question 46c) 99
46b. If so, did you learn about the new Constitution in your home language?
542/
Yes 1
No 2
Refused 99
101
46c. Do you think the Constitution is easy to understand for ordinary Zimbabweans?
543/
Yes 1
No 2
Refused 99
46d. Can you tell me three things that you feel are important that are in the Constitution?
______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
565/
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
46e. Are there any things that are in the Constitution that you think should not be there?
567/
Yes 1
No 2
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
IF YES, specify things that should not be there. _______________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
46f. Do you understand what the Constitution says about:
Code Yes No
Don’t
know Refused
Freedom of Assembly 600/ 1 2 3 4
Freedom of Expression 601/ 1 2 3 4
Remuneration for similar work done
by men and women 602/ 1 2 3 4
Right to justice 603/ 1 2 3 4
Custody and guardianship of children
for men and women 604/ 1 2 3 4
Rights of the disabled 605/ 1 2 3 4
102
Rights for veterans of the liberation
struggle 606/ 1 2 3 4
Entitlement to property/land 607/ 1 2 3 4
46g. Do you know where to go to learn about the Constitution?
610/
Yes (Go to Question 46h) 1
No 2
Refused 99
46h. Where can you go to learn about the Constitution?
Code
(open-ended)
IF RESPONDENT ANSWERED NO TO QUESTION 44, SKIP TO QUESTION 59
47a. I am going to read three statements about the Constitution. Please tell me which of these
statements comes closest to your opinion. (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-3 ONLY)
Statement 1: The current Constitution meets the needs of all Zimbabweans.
Statement 2: The current Constitution meets some of the needs of all Zimbabweans.
Statement 3: The current Constitution does not meet the needs of Zimbabweans.
Statement 4: Don’t know
Statement 5: Refused
620/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 3 3
Statement 4 98
Statement 5 99
I am going to read three statements about the Constitution. Please tell me which of these
statements comes closest to your expectations. (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-3 ONLY)
Statement 1: The current Constitution will improve your standard of living.
Statement 2: The current Constitution will reduce your standard of living.
103
Statement 3: The current Constitution will neither improve nor reduce your standard of living.
Statement 4: Don’t know
Statement 5: Refused
621/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 3 3
Statement 4 98
Statement 5 99
In your opinion, for whom was the Constitution made for? (READ OUT)
622/
All Zimbabwean citizens 1
Politicians 2
Lawyers and Judges 3
Other (Specify): 4
Don’t know 98
Refused 99
In your opinion, does the Zimbabwean Constitution affect your every-day life?
623/
Yes 1
No 2
Refused 99
I am going to read two statements about the Constitution. Please tell me which of these
statements comes closest to your opinion. (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-2 ONLY)
Statement 1: The current Constitution will protect your political rights.
Statement 2: The current Constitution will not protect your political rights.
Statement 3: Don’t know
Statement 4: Refused
624/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 4 98
Statement 4 99
I am going to read two statements about the Constitution. Please tell me which of these
statements comes closest to your opinion. (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-2 ONLY)
Statement 1: The current Constitution will protect your socio-economic rights.
Statement 2: The current Constitution will not protect your social and economic rights.
104
Statement 3: Don’t know
Statement 4: Refused
625/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 3 98
Statement 4 99
I am going to read two statements about the Constitution. Please tell me which of these
statements comes closest to your opinion. (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-2 ONLY)
Statement 1: The current Constitution will protect your cultural rights.
Statement 2: The current Constitution will not protect your cultural rights.
Statement 3: Don’t know
Statement 4: Refused
626/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 3 98
Statement 4 99
I am going to read two statements about the Constitution. Please tell me which of these
statements comes closest to your opinion. In Zimbabwe: (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-2
ONLY)
Statement 1: The Constitution was developed in an inclusive and participatory manner.
Statement 2: The Constitution was not developed in an inclusive and participatory manner.
Statement 3: Don’t know
Statement 4: Refused
627/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 3 98
Statement 4 99
55. Did you participate in any discussions when the Constitution was being revised?
628/
Yes 1
No 2
Don’t Know 98
Refused 99
105
I am going to read two statements about the Constitution. Please tell me which of these
statements comes closest to your opinion. (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-2 ONLY)
Statement 1: The Constitution is respected and adhered to by leaders and people of influence in
Zimbabwe
Statement 2: The Constitution is not respected and adhered to by leaders and people of influence
in Zimbabwe
Statement 3: Don’t know
Statement 4: Refused
629/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 3 98
Statement 4 99
I am going to read five statements about authority. Please tell me which of these statements
comes closest to your opinion. In Zimbabwe: (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-4 ONLY)
Statement 1: Authority should only be exercised through a Constitution.
Statement 2: Authority should only be exercised through political parties.
Statement 3: Authority should only be exercised by those who fought for the liberation of
Zimbabwe.
Statement 4: Authority should only be exercised through traditional leaders.
Statement 5: Authority should only be exercised through Parliament.
Statement 6: Don’t know
Statement 7: Refused
630/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 3 3
Statement 4 4
Statement 5 5
Statement 6 98
Statement 7 99
58. I am going to read four statements about authority. Please tell me which of these statements
comes closest to your opinion. In Zimbabwe: (READ OUT STATEMENTS 1-4 ONLY)
Statement 1: Decision-making should only be exercised through a Constitution.
Statement 2: Decision-making should only be exercised through political parties.
Statement 3: Decision-making should only be exercised by those who fought for the liberation of
Zimbabwe.
Statement 4: Decision-making should only be exercised through traditional leaders.
Statement 5: Decision-making should only be exercised through Parliament.
106
Statement 6: Don’t know
Statement 7: Refused
630/
Statement 1 1
Statement 2 2
Statement 3 3
Statement 4 4
Statement 5 5
Statement 6 98
Statement 7 99
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
59. Who do you trust the most to impartially resolve disputes that may arise between residents
in your community about:
Economic issues like disputes over assets, property or payments? (RECORD IN TABLE
OVERLEAF. ONE ANSWER ONLY)
Have you seen or experienced any other types of disputes other than economic, domestic or
family disputes in your community over the past two years? 635/ 1 Yes 635/2 No
If YES, Please describe the nature of these:
c) PROMPT if not mentioned in (b) What about disputes around power and leadership, politics
etc.?
636/ 1 Yes 636/2 No
If YES, Please describe the nature of these:
(ASK ALL) Who would you trust the most to impartially resolve these sorts of
power/leadership/political type disputes if they do occur or if they were to occur?
(a) 650/ (d) 651/
Law enforcement 1 1
Local Judiciary 2 2
Local Government
bodies 3 3
Community leaders 4 4
Local political leaders 5 5
Religious leaders 6 6
Civil Society
organisations 7 7
Other - specify 8 8
107
INDICATORS
60a.Overall, how would you rate the economy of Zimbabwe? (READ OUT RESPONSE
OPTIONS)
Asked in August 2012 survey 655/
Very Bad 1
Fairly Bad 2
Neither Good nor Bad 3
Fairly Good 4
Very Good 5
Don’t Know 98
Refused 99
60b.Overall, how would you rate your own present living conditions? (READ OUT
RESPONSE OPTIONS)
Asked in August 2012 survey 656/
Very Bad 1
Fairly Bad 2
Neither Good nor Bad 3
Fairly Good 4
Very Good 5
Refused 99
61a. Since the end of the Government of National Unity (GNU), how would you rate the
economy of Zimbabwe? (READ OUT RESPONSE OPTIONS)
Asked in August 2012 survey 657/
Very Bad 1
Fairly Bad 2
Neither Good nor Bad 3
Fairly Good 4
Very Good 5
Don’t Know 98
Refused 99
61b. Since the end of the Government of National Unity (GNU), how would you rate your own
living conditions? (READ OUT RESPONSE OPTIONS)
Asked in August 2012 survey 658/
Very Bad 1
Fairly Bad 2
Neither Good nor Bad 3
Fairly Good 4
Very Good 5
Don’t Know 98
Refused 99
108
62a. Thinking some more about the Zimbabwean economy, in the coming year do you think that
it is going to get better, worse, or stay about the same? (SINGLE RESPONSE; READ OUT
RESPONSE OPTIONS)
Asked in August 2012 survey 659/
Better 1
Worse 2
Same 3
Don’t Know 98
Refused 99
62b. Thinking some more about your personal economic situation, in the coming year do you
think that it is going to get better, worse, or stay about the same? (SINGLE RESPONSE;
READ OUT RESPONSE OPTIONS)
Asked in August 2012 survey 660/
Better 1
Worse 2
Same 3
Don’t Know 98
Refused 99
63a. Overall, do you think Zimbabwe is headed in the right direction or wrong direction?
661/
Right Direction 1
Wrong Direction 2
Don’t Know 98
Refused 99
63b. Why do you say right direction or wrong direction? (DO NOT PROMPT. MULTIPLE
ANSWERS OK)
Right Direction Pre-Codes Code
Better Access to Education 662
Increasing Freedom of the Press/Media 663
Better Access to Electricity 664
Better Access to Health Care 665
Continued Use of the Multi-currency Regime 666
Better Access to Land 667
Increasing Employment Opportunity 668
Increase in Wages or Earnings 669
Better Access to Agricultural Inputs 670
Declining Political Violence 671
Improved Access to Commodities (Goods) 672
Improvement in Law and Order Situation (Including policing and policy) 673
Indigenization 674
New Constitution 675
Gender Equality 676
109
Better Food Security 677
Business Sector is Growing 678
ZIMASSET 679
Good Political Leadership 680
Childhood Marriage Has Stopped 681
Communal Harmony 682
Old Age Pension 683
Earning Foreign Remittance 684
Other (please specify):
685
Wrong Direction Pre-Codes Code
Commodity Price Hike/High Cost of Living 700
Obstacles to Remittances 701
Lack of housing 702
Personal Financial Situation 703
Lack of Employment Opportunity 704
Increasing Corruption 705
Electricity Crisis 706
Degradation of Law Order Situation and Impunity 707
Lack of Education 708
Lack of Democracy 709
Lack of Agricultural Inputs 710
Depression in Business Sector 711
Redundancy Towards Religious Issues 712
Lack of Clean Water 713
Lack of Security 714
Lack of Press/Media Freedoms 715
Labor Wages Are Lower 716
Lack of Health Care 717
Other (please specify):
718
64. If you could only choose one or the other, which is more important to you: a democratic
system of government or a prosperous economy? READ OUT OPTIONS
Institute mandated question 725/
Democracy is definitely more important to me 1
Democracy is somewhat more important to me 2
Prosperity is somewhat more important to me 3
Prosperity is definitely more important to me 4
Don’t know/not sure 98
Refused 99
111
Appendix II: Sampling Sample by Province
Province Urban sample
size Rural sample
size Total sample
size Percentage by province
Harare 360 5 365 30.0
Bulawayo 115 0 115 9.5
Matabeleland North 15 35 50 4.1
Matabeleland South 15 35 50 4.1
Masvingo 20 75 95 7.8
Manicaland 45 80 125 10.3
Midlands 70 65 135 11.1
Mashonaland Central 10 60 70 5.8
Mashonaland East 20 70 90 7.4
Mashonaland West 60 60 120 9.9
Total 730 485 1,215 100
114
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International Republican Institute [email protected]