PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has said he will chair the performance reviews of local authorities that he believes are failing to deliver services to the people.
The reviews will be done twice a year.
He also announced that government would soon swoop on local authorities and individuals parcelling out pieces of land for residential purposes in peri-urban areas for personal gain.
The development follows reports that some Zanu PF-linked activists are selling stands on farmland near urban areas, with some of the stands being established on undesignated areas such as wetlands.
Mnangagwa made the remarks in a statement on Sunday following the launch of the local authorities’ blueprint on service delivery towards the attainment of government’s Vision 2030.
He said government would come up with minimum service delivery targets for the local authorities, expressing concern over those which do not have master plans.
In a strongly-worded statement Mnangagwa expressed concern that some local authorities are not abiding by relevant laws and policies.
“Over and above the annual performance contracts administered by the Office of the President and Cabinet, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works shall immediately prepare a bi-annual review of local authorities which will be chaired by the President of Zimbabwe,” said the statement.
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“An integrated approach and programme is, thus, being put in place to ensure that all local authorities deliver in sync with an upper-middle-income economy. An urgent and immediate requirement is for all local authorities to achieve acceptable service delivery levels and observe applicable laws.”
Mnangagwa said government was also concerned about local authorities which are leasing and selling traditional, communal and grazing land in breach of provisions of the law.
“This practice is rampant in peri-urban areas close to major towns and cities where dysfunctional and informal settlements have emerged without the basic municipal services at the expense of arable and grazing land,” he said.
The President ordered the local authorities to stop selling communal and agricultural land, while accusing the councils of using poor billing systems, resulting in municipalities losing revenue.
“Due to a number of factors, the box of revenue collection is lower than it is supposed to be; this seriously compromises the ability of local authorities to deliver service,” he said.
“The systems of revenue billing and collection are very weak. A number of local authorities only bill and collect from residents for only a portion of services rendered. These are instances where(by) some local authorities only collect revenue from about 60% which is generated.
“To ensure that we modernise our towns and cities local authorities should enforce the provisions for inspecting new and existing buildings.”
