adminZvifadzo Lubombo Herald Reporter
Government plans to tighten the monitoring of local authorities to improve performance and service delivery, outgoing Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo has said.Minister Chombo told The Herald in an interview that monitoring the performance of local authorities was critical to ensuring that ratepayers got better service and value for their money.
“Corruption has led to the under-performance of local authorities. It has done more harm to the economy and councillors should shun corruption to improve service delivery,” he said.
“Their role and participation in the overall development of the country is therefore critical and should not be underestimated. “Local authorities are an important element of national economic growth.” The Minister said it would be prudent to tighten monitoring of local authorities with corrective measures to ensure they met targets.
He said the facilitation of regular reporting and monitoring of progress against agreed outputs and targets would help improve performance and service delivery.
Rampant corruption and mismanagement of local authorities by MDC-T councillors in the past few years led to poor service delivery with residents in most parts of the country complaining about water shortages, poor roads and other important municipal services. Zimbabwe is working closely with other Sadc countries to develop a regional framework for local authorities to improve performance and service delivery within the regional bloc.
Minister Chombo expressed hope that this regional initiative would help create an operating framework for local authorities to enhance efficiency and service delivery.
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