LOCAL authorities have emerged as the worst-performing sector in government’s 2025 performance contracts, weighed down by structural and operational challenges that continue to undermine service delivery across the country.
The latest evaluation shows that most urban and rural councils failed to meet key performance targets under government’s performance management framework, highlighting persistent weaknesses in revenue collection, ageing infrastructure and service delivery systems.
The findings were revealed yesterday during the announcement of the 2025 performance evaluation results.
The evaluation forms part of government’s performance management system introduced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to measure the effectiveness of senior public officials and institutions.
Announcing the results, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Martin Rushwaya said overall government performance in the past year had shown steady improvement, although local authorities remained the weakest link.
“The 2025 evaluation results show steady improvement across several sectors of government, demonstrating progress in the institutionalisation of performance management. However, local authorities remain the weakest performing sector with structural and operational challenges.”
He said both urban and rural councils continued to struggle to meet performance targets, with most falling below set benchmarks, although within acceptable variance levels.
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“Urban and rural local authorities continue to experience performance challenges, with the majority falling below target but within a certain variance, highlighting areas requiring continued reform and support,” Rushwaya said.
He noted that a number of systemic challenges were affecting councils, including poor revenue collection, high levels of non-revenue water estimated at 45%, ageing water and sewer infrastructure, lack of equipment and machinery, as well as a growing culture of non-payment of rates and service charges by residents and organisations.
In the mayor and council chairperson category, only 22% met their set targets, while 68% fell below target but within variance and 10% were below both the target and the acceptable variance threshold.
The category recorded an average rating of 3.44, up from 3.31 in the 2024 fiscal year.
Among rural local authorities that were evaluated, 23% met set targets, 74% were below target but within variance, while 3% were below both the target and the variance. The category recorded an average rating of 3.66, a marginal change from 3.74 recorded in 2024.
In the town clerk and chief executive officer category, 22% met set targets, 70% were below target but within variance, while 8% were below both the target and variance.
For council chairpersons of rural district councils, 28% met their targets, 63% were below target but within variance and 9% were below both the target and variance.
In his remarks, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the signing of performance contracts was meant to strengthen accountability and improve service delivery in public institutions.
“The 2026 Performance Contracts represent a key milestone in our public administration and governance journey. It reflects our unwavering commitment and resilience in delivering public services efficiently as we march forward towards the realisation of Vision 2030.”
“As we append signatures to the performance contracts, let us always remember the ordinary citizens of our beloved motherland, Zimbabwe, whom we must serve wholeheartedly,” he said.
The performance contract system was introduced by Mnangagwa in 2021 as part of broader public sector reforms aimed at improving accountability and ensuring senior government officials deliver measurable results in their respective institutions.
