MUTARE town cerk, Blessing Chafesuka, has been named the best-performing town clerk in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works' annual performance report for 2025.
Chafesuka emerged top among 32 town clerks across the country.
The latest recognition comes on the back of his previous successes, having won the 2024 and 2025 President’s Award for performance excellence in service delivery.
He was crowned the overall best-performing town clerk and chief executive among urban local authorities during national award ceremonies presided over by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mutare has also consistently received national recognition, earning accolades as one of Zimbabwe's cleanest and best-managed local authorities.
Chafesuka dedicated the honour to collective teamwork and stakeholder collaboration.
"I just want to thank all stakeholders in service delivery for each having played their part. It's not out of individual effort but collective effort," he said.
The performance assessment was based on six key service delivery pillars: governance and administration; water, sanitation, and hygiene; social services; roads; public safety and security; and natural resources and conservation.
Chafesuka was appointed substantive town clerk in November 2024, after serving as the local authority's finance director and acting town clerk.
The performance-based contracting system under which Chafesuka was assessed was introduced by Mnangagwa in 2021 for senior public officials, including town clerks and chief executive officers of local authorities.
The initiative is designed to ensure that councils meet specific service delivery targets and financial benchmarks.
Under the framework, local authorities are evaluated on key indicators including water and sanitation services, waste management, road maintenance, housing development, and revenue collection.
To enhance accountability, the government also introduced the Citizen Engagement and Scoring Platform, a technology-driven system that uses artificial intelligence to enable ratepayers to directly assess the performance of their local authorities against agreed targets.
Officials and councils that fail to meet their performance obligations face increased scrutiny, with underperforming local authorities required to submit turnaround plans and implement corrective measures to improve service delivery outcomes.
Performance contracts for senior public officials are signed and reviewed annually at public ceremonies presided over by Mnangagwa.