Source: Errant local authorities risk penalties – herald
Remember Deketeke and Alicia Kadzviti
LOCAL authorities that fail to meet minimum service delivery standards risk penalties, including the suspension of senior officials, travel bans and the downgrading of council status, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe has said.
He said this at the 2025 Local Authorities’ Performance Evaluation Feedback Session in Harare on Wednesday.
Minister Garwe said Government would no longer tolerate poor service delivery, financial mismanagement and misplaced spending priorities by councils.
He said service delivery remained the ultimate measure of local authority performance and urged councils to align their operations with President Mnangagwa’s directive of “No Compromise to Service Delivery”.
“Service delivery is the only metric that matters,” he said.
“In terms of the powers of Statutory Instrument 69 of 2026, the Ministry will relentlessly, ruthlessly and brutally penalise non-compliant and non-performing officials.
“I stand before you today not to celebrate mediocre efforts, but to enforce institutional alignment with His Excellency, President Mnangagwa’s operational directive: ‘Call to Action-No Compromise to Service Delivery’.”
Among the top performing urban councils were Mutare town council and Kwekwe town council; and top performing rural district councils were Zvimba and Chivi; while in the RDC category, Mutasa and Chimanimani were ranked last.
In the urban category, Gokwe and Rusape were ranked last.
The minister said independent assessments conducted by Best Practices (Pvt) Ltd had revealed significant shortcomings among many local authorities.
“The independent evaluations tabled today reflect a clear mirror of your performances during the 2025 cycle. While a few councils are showing a positive trajectory, many are still lagging, trapped in cycles of poor resource management and administrative complacency,” he said.
Minister Garwe said the Government’s drive towards Vision 2030 required all councils to provide uniform and quality public services regardless of geographical location.
He added that Government gazetted Statutory Instrument 170 of 2025, which establishes Minimum Service Delivery Standards Indicators for local authorities.
Under the regulations, councils are required to achieve piped water coverage of 90 percent in urban areas by next year while ensuring residents receive between 50 and 100 litres of clean water per person daily.
Road infrastructure must attain a minimum Visual Condition Index of 55 percent, while councils are also expected to maintain regular refuse collection services and functional public lighting across developed residential areas.
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya, said local authorities play a pivotal role in achieving Vision 2030 as they are responsible for delivering essential services and remain the level of government closest to the people.
“Without strong and efficient local authorities, national development goals will be difficult to realise,” said Dr Rushwaya.
He said councils must prioritise the provision of clean water, efficient waste management, reliable road networks, public health services and orderly human settlements.
“These are the core responsibilities of local authorities and the key areas upon which their performance will be assessed,” he said.
Dr Rushwaya acknowledged that some challenges continue to hamper effective service delivery.
“Inadequate funding, deteriorating infrastructure, corruption and poor resource management remain major obstacles that undermine service delivery and erode public confidence in local authorities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister Garwe said Government was continuing with demolitions on all illegal settlements.
He added that only two settlements in Harare were approved by Government, which is Caledonia and Harare South.
And he termed the exercise “Operation dzokera kwawakabva”.
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