Whilst at Wankie, after numerous meetings, I managed to revive the dormant Wankie African Council but in a different form - four separate and autonomous councils, one for each chief's area. Opinions differed as to whether it was preferable to have one large council or several small ones, but what we did was to follow the wishes of the people concerned.
The new government after independence decreed that there should be one council per district come what may, and at the time of writing, plans were under way to combine the district councils (covering communal areas) and rural councils (covering commercial farming areas).
The District Commissioner was at first Chairman of the African Councils but this was obviously undemocratic even if it got things done faster and the Chairmen were then elected from amongst the local ratepayers. The District Commissioner was then made President of the councils and assumed a purely advisory role. Most councils had very limited funds when compared with the finance available from African Development Fund Allocations, but we ensured that no new developments financed by the African Development Fund took place unless they were approved by the council. There were certain developments such as clinics, meetings halls and administrative offices that were the direct responsibilty of, and financed by, the councils. In common with many other District Commissioners, I designed, quantity surveyed and supervised the erection of several buildings especially in the Esigodini area. These included a hall and a bottle store for the Mzinyatini Council, and an office block, clinic and storerooms for the new Nswazi Council. My designs were always four square and unimaginative but sturdy and functional. They were of concrete block under corrugated iron and equipped with gutters and a rain water tank, which is a feature which is not sufficiently promoted out in the communal areas. Another scheme which should be used more often where the topography allows it, was the channelling of run-off water from the smooth granite "dwalas" that occur so frequently in the sandveld. Using reject bricks and concrete mortar, a V-shaped line one brick high is laid down the slope of the dwala and a reservoir is dug at the base into which the water is channelled. Even without lining this reservoir lasts for several weeks after a good storm and serves as a domestic supply for neighbouring villages. It has, of course, to be fenced to avoid pollution by animals and the water must be boiled before drinking. I built one of these in the Matobo Communal area and it was a great success.
My biggest building project was an F2 secondary school at Esibomvu in the Mzinyathini area which was funded as I have explained earlier by the Bulawayo Municipality as part of compensation for the Umzingwane Dam. F2 schools were a new concept and were intended for those less academically minded pupils who could not gain a place in a regular secondary school. They were technically-orientated and gave their pupils a sound background in carpentry, metalwork, needlework, cooking and agriculture. Ours was only the second such school to be established in the country and before we started we went to Msengezi in Mashonaland to examine the first one.
Our school consisted of eight classrooms including specialist rooms for each practical subject and storerooms and headmaster's office. I employed local builders on contract and a retired qualified builder as clerk-of-works and in a short time our new school was duly opened by the Mayor of Bulawayo.
It was situated in a 15 hectare block of land and had its own water supply from a good borehole. I personally laid the PVC pipeline from the borehole to the resvoir, glueing each length of piping to the next one and was very gratified when no leaks developed.
From the reservoir water was reticulated to a vegetable garden and to a cattle watering trough. Having listened to Allan Savory's lecture on grazing management, I designed a multi-paddock system with fencing radiating from a centre core where the trough was placed, in the form of spokes of a wheel. The small herd remained in each paddock for only one week before moving to the next paddock. It was supposed to act as an example of veld management to the communal farmers of Mzinyatini, but I did not remain in the district long enough to see if it was successful.
Numerous weighty treatises have been written on the role and history of the chiefs and their relationships with the people, the government and the councils. I will not attempt another treatise but simply state what I saw of chieftainship during my years with the government.
During the years of the Ndebele kings, Mzilikazi and Lobengula, chiefs were appointed as the leaders of regiments and their successors duly followed by the rule of primogeniture, father to eldest son of first wife. This was in contrast to the collateral succesion of Shona chieftainship where it passed to the "houses" based on the families of brothers of the original founder chief - most complicated.
It was the District Commissioner's duty to recommend the successor to a departed chief but he did this only on the recommendation of meetings called by the elders. Advice was given when called for or when there was a dispute between opposing factors.
It was necessary to delve very deep into tribal history and chieftainship succession disputes which while sometimes most frustrating, were certainly one of the most interesting facets of a District Commissioner's job.
The functions of a chief were governed by custom and by legislation and included the important task of allocation of land and stock rights, presiding over tribal couts (civil cases only, but later certain minor criminal cases) and being custodian of the tribal lore, history and spirits. Prior to independance the Government and the administration tried to boost the power and influence of chiefs in an attempt to promote compliance with law and order throughout the communal lands. Though in terms of the Afric an Affairs Act the District Commissioner was responsible for "assigning lands for huts, gardens and grazing grounds" in practice this was left to the chiefs.
For sixty years, between about 1902 and 1962 all went smoothly along and the power of the chiefs was not disputed. In 1964 and 1965 the chiefs unanimously declared their support for the efforts of the then government to achieve independence for Southern Rhodesia as Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland had done, and opposed the one man one vote policy. Their cry was "let us cut the strings that bind us to Britain and let us ignore the voices of the children (politicians) who would dare to go against their advice of the elders" (The chiefs).
As the guerilla war developed from 1972 onwards, the role of the chiefs became more and more difficult. It became obvious that the sympathy of the majority of people in the communal areas was with "the boys" (guerillas). Yet the chiefs were expected to side wholeheartedly with the government. If they did so their people branded them as sell-outs. If they sided with the people they found themselves in detention. Some chiefs disappeared over the border and only returned after independance. Some chiefs were murdered. Numerous chiefs were brought for protection into district headquarters. Some bravely stuck it out at their homes and were provided with armed militia. Others managed somehow to tread a middle path and declare support for both parties as the opportunity arose. Overall, their power and influence declined drastically and has never recovered.
In the period leading up to the installation of the Muzorewa government and final independence, certain chiefs became involved directly in politics and formed ineffective political parties such as Chief Chirau's Zimbabwe United Peoples Organisation and Chief Kayisa's United National Federal Party. Though they won a few seats in the Muzorewa election, they were totally defeated in the 1980 election which brought ZANU (PF) to power.
The new government removed the two principal powers of the chiefs - allocation of land and stock rights, and the judicial function and left them as custodians of the spititual heritage of the people. They thus became mere figureheads though some retained judicial powers as members of community courts and others remain as senators.