FILLING OF SENIOR VACANT POSITIONS WITH SUBSTANTIVE PERSONNEL IN LOCAL AUTHORITIES [MOTION]

HON. MUTIMBANYOKA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir.  I rise to table a motion that calls attention to a critical administrative anomaly undermining our local government structures and impeding the realisation of effective and accountable service delivery across the Republic of Zimbabwe. The issue at hand is the prevalence of acting and non-substantive appointments in senior positions within local authorities, a matter that poses a significant risk to governance, development and the constitutional ideals of inclusive participation and equitable service provision.

Mr. Speaker Sir, local authorities serve as the foundation of service delivery and grassroots development. These institutions are responsible for providing essential public services such as water supply, waste management, road maintenance, town planning, housing and community welfare. These functions are crucial to achieving Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 1 and 2. However, the effectiveness of local authorities depends on stable, professional and accountable leadership.

Over the past few years, there has been an alarming and growing trend in which critical leadership positions in urban and rural local authorities, including those of town clerks, chief executive officers, directors of finance, engineers and health services, remain vacant or are fueled by individuals serving in an acting capacity, often for prolonged periods exceeding six months and even years.

Such a scenario erodes the credibility, functionality and efficiency of local governance systems, creating institutional paralysis and impacting the delivery of basic services to our people. The Constitution of Zimbabwe, under Section 13 (2), obliges the State and all institutions of Government at every level to involve people in the formulation and implementation of development plans and programmes that affect them. Furthermore, Section 264 subsection (2) (a), promotes the devolution of governmental powers and responsibilities to competent local government units to ensure the equitable sharing of national resources and efficient service delivery. The constitutional provision is further buttressed by the Urban Councils Act [Chapter 29:15] and the Rural District Councils Act [Chapter 29:13], which clearly outline the roles, appointment procedures and responsibilities of administrative officers within local authorities.

The spirit of these instruments is to guarantee a stable, professional and accountable local public service. Yet the prevalence of acting appointments runs contrary to this objective and exposes the structural gap that must be urgently addressed. The persistent and systemic reliance on acting appointments within local authorities has had profound and deleterious effects on the efficacy, stability and responsiveness of service delivery systems throughout Zimbabwe. These consequences manifest across multiple dimensions, from governance paralysis and administrative inertia to the disempowerment of communities and the erosion of trust in public institutions. To begin with, governance instability and poor strategic planning are among the most immediate and observable outcomes of prolonged acting appointments.  Individuals serving in an acting capacity are often constrained by their temporary status, which diminishes both their authority and their confidence to enact long-term policy decisions or commit to transformative development strategies.

As a result, what prevails is a bureaucratic culture of hesitation where only perfunctory, low-risk decisions are entertained. This inevitably stalls the implementation of capital projects, frustrates infrastructure rollouts and compromises the broader developmental agenda of the local authority.  The vacuum of permanent leadership essentially creates a scenario where councils operate in limbo disconnected from vision, strategy and sustained execution. Closely related to this leadership vacuum is the erosion of accountability and transparency within municipal systems. In the absence of formally appointed and substantively confirmed officials, performance contracts are either non-existent or inadequately enforced.  Acting officers are not always bound by robust performance evaluation frameworks, making it exceedingly difficult to hold them accountable for poor delivery, mismanagement of funds or maladministration.

This lack of institutional clarity has contributed to widespread inefficiencies, stalled service delivery projects and in some instances, financial misappropriation, all without consequences due to the precarious and ambiguous nature of acting appointments. Furthermore, the over-reliance on acting officials increases vulnerability to political manipulation and bureaucratic interference. In some cases, acting appointments are continuously renewed, not based on merit or demonstrable competence but due to political patronage or functional interests. Such scenarios fundamentally undermine professionalism in the public service and breed a toxic environment where allegiance to political figures outweighs fidelity to public service ethics. This culture of patronage corrodes the institutional integrity of local authorities and erodes public confidence in municipal leadership.  Equally worrying is the demoralisation of staff and institutional decay that stems from these leadership anomalies. Dedicated and qualified personnel are often sidelined or ignored in favour of politically expedient acting appointments. This not only disrupts succession planning but also discourages career development and ambition within local authorities.

Over time, institutional knowledge dissipates and the continuity of programmes is disrupted, as temporary officials are often hesitant to make binding or visionary decisions. The result is an administrative environment marked by disengagement, mistrust and stagnation. Ultimately, the most tragic consequence of this administrative dysfunction is borne by the ordinary Zimbabwean citizen, the very individuals whose lives are most dependent on effective and reliable municipal services. When acting appointments become the norm rather than the exception, communities suffer. Roads remain riddled with potholes, garbage piles up on the streets due to erratic refuse collection, clean water becomes scarce and housing developments are indefinitely delayed. Whether it is the informal trader in Mbare, the communal farmer in Gokwe or the unemployed youth in Plumtree, all experience the palpable and painful effects of service delivery collapse directly linked to the absence of substantive and accountable leadership in their local councils.

The crisis of acting appointments in local authorities is not merely a staffing anomaly. It is a full-blown governance emergency that strikes at the heart of our constitutional promise of devolved, participatory and effective local government. One of the most egregious manifestations of this dysfunction is the rampant and illegal conversion of wetlands and open spaces, an act that amounts to urban vandalism, sanctioned by those entrusted with safeguarding the public interest. These wetlands were never idle lands. They were deliberately reserved for critical urban functions, ecological ventilation, climate regulation, recreational amenities and long-term sustainability. Yet under the guise of housing development, acting officials, many of whom lack both technical expertise and the security of tenure, have chosen to auction off these lands for profit, not policy. Lacking oversight and urban planning literacy and driven by short-term personal gain rather than public service, these temporary managers have devolved into opportunistic profiteers. In collusion with ineffectual councillors who perceive public office, not as a calling but as a means of income. They have commodified community assets, even in illegally protected zones. This unholy alliance is not only deliberate and systemic, it is a betrayal of the people. It constitutes economic sabotage and environmental suicide.  We must ask ourselves, what future are we mortgaging when we permit such reckless destruction of public land? We are not only compromising today’s service delivery but also permanently disfiguring the spatial and ecological integrity of our cities. The destruction of wetlands will haunt us with increased flooding, water insecurity and urban heat islands.

If this House is serious about sustainability and intergenerational equality, then it must not only condemn this practice in its strongest terms but also legislate against it with urgency and finality. The collapse of effective local governance can be traced in part to the glaring failures of the Local Government Board, which has become a ceremonial relic, rarely convening and grossly disconnected from the urgent staffing needs of our municipalities. Despite its constitutional mandate to ensure the appointment of qualified personnel, it has allowed acting positions to proliferate unchecked, breeding a culture of temporariness, instability and zero accountability. In many councils, underqualified councilors, lacking both academic and managerial competence, are tasked with appointing and supervising key officials, while some personnel remain in office despite facing serious criminal charges. Meanwhile, acting town clerks, with neither job security nor autonomy, easily succumb to councilor pressure, compromising integrity for survival. To restore professionalism, the Public Service Commission must assume the recruitment function and the Urban Councils Act must be urgently overhauled to introduce minimum qualifications for councilors, abolish obsolete privileges and modernise governance frameworks.

Without decisive reforms, we risk infringing the impunity and mediocrity that continue to erode our local authorities.  The crisis of acting appointments within local authorities is most starkly illustrated by examining the situations currently prevailing in the Harare City Council and Chitungwiza Municipality. These two major urban centres, with their strategic importance to national development, serve as cautionary tales of what happens when administrative leadership is left in a perpetual state of flux and informality.  In the capital city of Harare, the nerve centre of national commons, governance and international diplomacy, the leadership structure is alarming, dominated by individuals in acting capacities. Currently, the city is operating under an Acting Town Clerk whose tenure has not been substantively regularised. Critical departments such as the Chamber Secretary’s Office, Housing and Community Development, Finance and Urban Planning are all led by individuals in temporary positions. Even more troubling is the Urban Planning Director position, which determines the spatial and developmental trajectory of the city, is also filled on an acting basis.

The implications of this are grave. Without a substantively appointed Town Clerk or Chamber Secretary, policy coherence, legal compliance and strategic planning are gravely compromised. The Housing Department, which is responsible for the regulation of housing cooperatives and the development of new settlements, suffers from a credibility deficit as it is steered by an acting director. Similarly, the absence of a confirmed Finance Director, the fiscal nerve centre of the municipality, renders budget oversight, procurement authorisation and financial planning erratic and often opaque.

It is no coincidence that Harare remains trapped in a cycle of deteriorating roads, erratic waste collection, crumbling water infrastructure and rising incidences of unregulated informal settlements. A city cannot function optimally when its entire leadership architecture is essentially ad hoc and transitional. This administrative vacuum is not only undermining service delivery but also placing immense pressure on lower-tier professionals who must operate under directionless and insecure circumstances.

If the case of Harare City Council is deeply concerning, then that of Chitungwiza Municipality borders on alarming. The municipality is practically paralysed by a proliferation of acting appointments with almost every critical leadership post filled on a non-substantive basis. The Acting Town Clerk presides over a fragmented executive team, lacking the cohesion and autonomy required to steer the municipality towards sustainable development.

The situation is particularly dire in the Health Directorate, where both the Acting Health Director and the Health Manager operate without substantive authority. This has significantly hampered the municipality’s ability to respond to persistent public health challenges, including the municipality’s ability to respond to persistent public health challenges, including recurring cholera outbreaks in informal settlements. Similarly, the Housing Department remains under acting leadership, resulting in widespread administrative disorder, including corruption in land allocation, a chaotic housing database and poorly regulated spatial social development.

Engineering services have not been spared either, with the Acting Director of Engineering, the Works Manager and the Planning Manager all serving in temporary capacities. Critical infrastructure projects such as road maintenance, drainage rehabilitation and sewer network upgrades have neither stalled nor failed to take off altogether. In the Procurement Division, the lack of a substantive manager has opened the floodgates for irregular tendering processes, undermining transparency, cost-effectiveness and value for money in public contracts

The Human Resources function is equally dysfunctional. The absence of a substantive HR manager has rendered the enforcement of staff development policies and disciplinary procedures inconsistent, leading to low staff morale and a deteriorating institutional culture. The Legal and Governance Department, headed by an Acting Chamber Secretary and Legal Officer, has struggled to uphold compliance and assert municipal authority, often appearing weak in the face of legal disputes or internal administrative breaches.

Even the Registry Department is not spared with its acting leadership, compromising document management, record archiving and public access to crucial municipal records. The only semblance of operational stability in Chitungwiza lies within the Finance Directorate, where the Finance Director and line managers, particularly in the Audit Department, are substantively appointed. However, this isolated deficiency is undermined by the dysfunction in other interdependent departments.

Financial integrity alone cannot translate into effective service delivery without coordinated support from engineering, planning, procurement and housing services. The prevailing situation in both Harare and Chitungwiza speaks to a wider national governance crisis. The continued reliance on acting appointments is not simply an administrative anomaly but a profound structural failure. It weakens institutional capacity, fosters impunity, promotes unaccountability and ultimately erodes public confidence in local governance structures. Having deliberated on the critical issues of leadership instability in our local authorities and its detrimental effects on service delivery to our citizens, I now move that this House resolves as follows:

The Government, through the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, urgently undertakes a comprehensive nationwide authority staffing structure audit. This assessment must determine the full extent of this leadership crisis and its impact on service delivery. Madam Speaker, we need an independent technical committee comprising experts from the Local Government Board, Public Service Commission and academia to complete this assessment within 90 days.

This audit must document the precise number and duration of acting positions across all local authorities, particularly in critical roles such as Town Clerk, Finance Director and Engineering Directorate. Furthermore, it must analyse the direct correlation between leadership instability and specific service delivery failures in water provision, waste management and road maintenance that our constituency face daily.

My second resolution is that the responsible Ministry institute clear timelines and frameworks for substantively filling senior positions. No acting appointment should exceed six months without formal review and justification. We require a transparent merit-based recruitment process with specific timelines, for example, 21 days for advertising, 14 days for shortlisting, 30 days for interviews and 30 days for appointments. Our citizens deserve local authorities led by officials selected through a standardised competence framework that emphasises both technical expertise and leadership capabilities.

Thirdly, this Parliament must exercise its constitutional oversight role to ensure local authorities operate with permanent, qualified leadership. The Portfolio Committee on Local Government should conduct quarterly reviews on appointment processes. We require the Minister to submit bi-annual reports to this House detailing the status of all acting positions lasting beyond six months, with specific justifications and remedial plans. We must hear directly from our people through public hearings in affected communities to gather testimony on how these leadership gaps affect citizens’ daily lives.

Fourthly, while awaiting substantive appointments, local boards must develop and implement interim performance-based frameworks for acting officials. This includes time-bound performance contracts with clearly defined deliverables and consequences for non-performance. We need citizens’ feedback mechanisms to evaluate acting officials’ responsiveness to community needs and monthly performance reviews by the local government board to ensure accountability. Critical service areas require contingency plans to prevent deterioration during leadership transitions.

I further propose that local authorities develop comprehensive succession planning and capacity-building programmes to ensure sustainable leadership transitions. Each local authority must maintain an up-to-date succession plan for all senior positions and establish talent identification programmes to nurture promising middle managers. Knowledge management systems are essential to capture institutional memory and prevent the loss of critical information during transitions.

Finally, Madam Speaker, the Government must implement targeted fiscal and governance reforms to address the underlying causes of leadership instability. This includes reviewing remuneration frameworks to ensure competitive compensation for senior positions, strengthening local authority financial autonomy while enhancing accountability mechanisms and insulating key technical appointments from political interference through reformed appointment processes. The stability of local authorities is not a partisan issue but a matter of national development. When our towns and cities function properly, our entire nation benefits. The recommendations I have presented offer a pathway to restore professionalism, accountability and effective service delivery in our local authorities.

 In conclusion Madam Speaker, the endemic reliance on acting and non-substantive appointments in local authorities is not merely a procedural lapse but a glaring governance deficit that gravely undermines the integrity, efficiency and responsiveness of our municipalities. It breeds administrative paralysis, institutional instability and systemic failures in service delivery, robbing citizens of their constitutional right to dignified living conditions.

This House must act decisively and urgently to end this culture of temporariness by compelling the responsible ministry to regularise all senior positions, enforce meritocratic appointments and restore professional leadership across local governance structures. Only through bold legislative oversight and executive accountability can we rescue our local authorities from collapse and ensure no citizen, no place is left behind in Zimbabwe’s developmental trajectory. With these few remarks Madam Speaker, I so submit.