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UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES ECONOMIC COMMISSION COMMISSION ECONOMIQUE FOR AFRICA POUR L¡¯AFRIQUE
Local government councils, being political institutions, can thrive properly only within the framework of a healthy polity. A system of local government cannot succeed where orders come from the top; for devolution is the very essence of decentralization ? genuine, not illusory, decentralization. While all governments express pride in having espoused decentralization most of them actually do lip service to it; they cannot simply tolerate the existence of othercenters of power. That is precisely why their local councils fail. This rather quick survey of the city councils of Windhoek, Lilongwe, Lusaka and Tshwane has established the absolute necessity of autonomy for local councils. The two successful councils (Windhoek and City of Tshwane) enjoy great and genuine autonomy. The other two (Lilongwe and Lusaka) suffer, as we have seen, from government interference and have not been successful. The case of Lusaka City Council is actually pathetic because it is denied the resources it needs to function satisfactorily, and it cannot tap new sources of revenue without having the blessing of the central government...
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