Online Reporter
Remember Deketeke
Municipal Correspondent
ZIMBABWEAN cities are buckling under the weight of years of poor governance, financial mismanagement, deteriorating infrastructure and weak accountability, according to the latest Auditor-General’s report.
From Harare to Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare, Kwekwe and Chitungwiza, the report reveals a disturbing pattern of poor service delivery, unaccounted-for public assets, mounting financial irregularities, ageing water and sewer infrastructure, revenue leakages and failure by councils to implement recommendations from previous audits.
Findings suggest that the situation is no longer confined to individual local authorities but has become systemic across Zimbabwe’s urban local authorities.
The report claims that unless urgent corrective action is taken, public confidence in local government institutions will continue to erode while essential services deteriorate further.
“The issues I have raised above, if not addressed, service delivery and efforts made to enhance transparency and accountability through various instruments may be compromised,” reads the report.
“Concerted efforts from those charged with governance are required to put in place measures to address reported weaknesses in order to enhance transparency, accountability, good corporate governance and service delivery.”
The report covers 96 financial statements from 81 local authorities, exposing widespread governance failures across Zimbabwe’s cities, municipalities, town councils and rural district councils.
Only eight local authorities received clean audit opinions, while 51 received qualified opinions, 30 adverse opinions and five disclaimers of opinion, indicating serious weaknesses in financial management and governance.
Harare’s decline continues
The country’s capital, Harare, once regarded as the Sunshine City, continues to feature prominently among councils battling governance failures. The Auditor-General found that the city failed to resolve 23 of the 25 findings raised in the previous audit, with only two being partially addressed.
Persistent problems include failure to revalue property and equipment, unresolved governance weaknesses, poor financial controls, ageing water and sewer infrastructure and land administration challenges.
The report also highlights continued deterioration of roads, water distribution systems and sewer infrastructure despite billions of dollars collected annually from residents.
Gweru sinks deeper
If Harare’s problems are alarming, Gweru presents an even more troubling picture.
The Midlands capital received a disclaimer of opinion, the worst possible audit outcome, meaning auditors could not obtain sufficient evidence to express an opinion on the city’s financial statements.
Among the irregularities uncovered were: ZiG1,29 billion parked in an unexplained suspense account; ZiG99,4 million in unsupported journal entries; ZiG89 million in unreconciled bank variances; ZiG167,69 million unexplained cash differences and ZiG2,64 billion variance in inventory records.
The report adds that Gweru failed to account for infrastructure assets such as roads, bridges and sewer systems and also failed to recognise financial records for four council schools. The Auditor-General further noted that 12 of the 15 previous audit findings remained unresolved.
Bulawayo battles ageing infrastructure
Zimbabwe’s second-largest city continues to struggle with ageing infrastructure and weak financial reporting.
Auditors were unable to express an opinion on Bulawayo’s financial statements because the city’s reporting framework failed to comply fully with recognised accounting standards.
The report also found that the city continued billing residents using estimated water consumption after failing to conduct regular meter readings, exposing residents to under-billing and over-billing while exposing council to revenue losses.
Long-standing problems remain unresolved, including obsolete equipment at Thorngrove sewer treatment plant, delays in repairing water pipelines and failure to update sewer infrastructure.
Chitungwiza’s infrastructure collapse
Chitungwiza Municipality continues to battle one of the country’s worst sanitation crises.
The Auditor-General noted that the municipality’s sewer treatment plant has remained non-functional for more than five years, while ageing sewer infrastructure has resulted in frequent sewer bursts across residential and commercial areas.
The report also revealed persistent failures to implement previous audit recommendations despite repeated warnings.
Kwekwe and Mutare under pressure
Kwekwe and Mutare also feature prominently in the report, with auditors identifying governance failures, weak internal controls, asset management weaknesses and financial reporting deficiencies.
The recurring nature of these findings indicates that councils continue to struggle with implementing basic financial management systems despite repeated recommendations from auditors.
National picture equally worrying
Beyond the individual cities, the report exposes a nationwide crisis in local governance. Governance issues increased to 245 cases, representing 67 percent of all reported findings, while service delivery problems increased by 121 percent compared to the previous audit period.
The Auditor-General attributed the worsening service delivery to failure by councils to expand water infrastructure, sewer systems and waste management facilities in line with population growth.
“Water, sewerage infrastructure and waste management were not being upgraded to match the growth in population. Most local authorities did not have engineered landfills for disposal of solid waste and were using dumpsites against EMA regulations,” the report says.
The report further notes that many councils continue to rely on outdated manual accounting systems, resulting in incomplete records, weak accountability and delayed financial reporting.
Perhaps most concerning is that councils appear to be repeating the same mistakes year after year.
Of 634 previous audit findings, only 240 (38 percent) were fully addressed, while 327 findings, representing 52 percent, were not addressed at all.
The Auditor-General says the recurring weaknesses continue to undermine transparency, accountability and the quality of public services delivered to millions of Zimbabweans.
As residents grapple with burst sewer pipes, dry taps, uncollected refuse, crumbling roads and deteriorating public infrastructure, the report presents a sobering conclusion: Zimbabwe’s urban governance crisis is no longer isolated to a handful of struggling councils.
It has become a widespread challenge demanding urgent intervention from local authorities, central Government and all institutions charged with safeguarding public resources.
