On July 28, 2026, Cabinet approved the Municipal Police and Courts Bill, a landmark piece of legislation that seeks to grant municipal police powers to apprehend, investigate and prosecute offenders who violate local authority by-laws, while also establishing dedicated municipal courts to preside over violation of municipal by-laws, minor offences traffic violations.
The bill also sets out to appoint magistrates for these courts. Additionally, the proposed legislation which borrows from international best-practices in local governance is intended to strengthen community safety, improve by-law enforcement, enhance service delivery and advance the realisation of section 264 of Zimbabwe's constitutional devolution agenda by equipping local authorities with stronger enforcement mechanisms.
If enacted by Parliament, the bill will fundamentally alter the local governance landscape in Zimbabwe, with a paradigm shift to how local authorities maintain order and enforce regulations within their jurisdictions.
For years, councils have been responsible for regulating issues ranging from traffic management and illegal vending to environmental protection and public health, yet they have remained heavily dependent on the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and national courts to investigate and prosecute offenders. This dependence has often resulted in weak enforcement, lengthy delays and a culture of impunity that has contributed to urban disorder, revenue leakages, corruption, human rights violations and environmental degradation.
Activities such as illegal vending and pirate taxi operations along 6th and 5th Avenue in Bulawayo, illegal dumping across the market area within the CBD and in high density suburbs, traffic violations and sand poaching and illegal mining activities in ward 17 peri-urban areas have persisted not because councils lacked regulations but because they lacked the practical enforcement powers necessary to uphold them.
For this reason, the bill should be welcomed as a progressive step towards devolution and urban restoration. Without enforcement powers, local authorities remain administrators without the tools necessary to govern.
The rationale behind the bill is supported by international experience. In neighbouring South Africa, metropolitan police departments in cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Tshwane play a critical role in enforcing by-laws, managing traffic, combating illegal dumping and supporting crime prevention initiatives.
In Nigeria, although slightly different from the South African setup and as debates on the amendments of their constitution continue, municipalities have created various traffic management, security and environmental management corps such as LASTMA in Lagos to restore order in cities.
- Revisiting Majaivana’s last show… ‘We made huge losses’
- Too young to marry: The secret world of child brides
- Edutainment mix: The nexus of music and cultural identity
- ChiTown acting mayor blocks election
Keep Reading
Municipal police have demonstrated how empowered and well-resourced local enforcement structures can improve urban management and responsiveness to community concerns. Zimbabwe's municipalities face many of the same challenges, making it reasonable to expect similar benefits if the reforms are implemented correctly.
Local authorities cannot be expected to maintain order, protect municipal assets and deliver services efficiently while lacking meaningful enforcement capacity. By strengthening municipal police and creating municipal courts, the government is attempting to address long-standing operational bottlenecks that have undermined local governance.
However, supporting the principle of the Bill should not mean ignoring its potential risks which in Zimbabwe have been well documented.
Expanding enforcement powers inevitably raises legitimate concerns about abuse of authority, corruption, political interference and human rights violations. Zimbabweans have every reason to demand strong safeguards before such powers are fully operationalised.
The success of this legislation will ultimately depend not on the powers granted to municipal police, but on the systems put in place to ensure that those powers are exercised lawfully, professionally and transparently.
As such, this development also raises urgency on Parliament to align legislative frameworks which guide the relations and operations of the three tiers of government with the constitution, through the enactment of an Act of Parliament to fully operationalize Devolution in Zimbabwe.
The first and most important safeguard is the establishment of Independent Municipal Police Oversight Tribunal is crucial to prevent departments from investigating themselves and to build public trust. As regional history shows, including South Africa's weak oversight and Zimbabwe's violent 2024 municipal police clashes in Bulawayo with illegal traders within the CBD along 5th avenue which resultantly led to the hospitalization of dozens at Mpilo Hospital—internal accountability fails.
To ensure real transparency, this statutory tribunal must operate entirely separate from municipal councils and police command structures, while maintaining a publicly accessible complaints database.
The second major concern is corruption. Expanded municipal policing powers create high risks for bribery and extortion during daily interactions with vendors, motorists, and businesses. Without strict safeguards, law enforcement can easily degenerate into a predatory revenue-generating racket.
For example, Bulawayo Ward 1 councillor was recently removed for misconduct following a vending bay bribery scandal. To prevent this, legislation must prohibit officers from handling cash, mandating that all fines go through auditable electronic payment platforms.
Furthermore, accountability requires mandatory asset declarations, lifestyle audits, and strict criminal penalties for enforcement personnel who abuse their power.
Professional training will be equally critical. The transition from traditional by-law enforcement to powers involving investigations, arrests and prosecutions requires a far higher level of competence than many municipal police departments currently possess.
Without proper training, officers may unintentionally violate constitutional rights or compromise investigations through procedural errors. The Bill should therefore require all municipal officers to undergo mandatory and accredited training before exercising their expanded powers. Training should be provided through recognised institutions such as ZRP academies and should include constitutional law, human rights, evidence management, community policing, conflict resolution and the legal limitations governing arrest and detention. Successful municipal police services around the world operate within clear professional standards and certification requirements. Zimbabwe should adopt the same approach from the outset.
Embedding these standards within national legislation would ensure consistency across all local authorities rather than leaving training requirements to individual councils.
Technology should also become a central pillar of accountability. The legislation should require officers performing enforcement duties to wear body cameras and maintain digital records of arrests, searches and other interactions with members of the public as recently adopted by ZRP traffic officers.
In numerous jurisdictions, body-worn cameras have been shown to reduce complaints against police, discourage misconduct and provide objective evidence when disputes arise.
Body cameras protect citizens from abuse while simultaneously protecting officers from false accusations and drastically reduces chances of soliciting bribes.
Ultimately, the Municipal Police and Courts Bill represents one of the most significant opportunities to strengthen Zimbabwe's devolution agenda since the adoption of the constitution in 2013. The government's objective of improving by-law enforcement, restoring civic order, protecting municipal assets and decentralising access to justice is both legitimate and necessary. Local authorities cannot be expected to solve local problems if they lack the authority to enforce local laws. Yet international best practices demonstrate that municipal policing succeeds only when strong accountability mechanisms exist alongside strong enforcement powers. Zimbabwe should therefore avoid treating this bill as a standalone legislative framework meant merely as a law-and-order reform. It should instead be viewed as an opportunity to build a modern, professional and accountable system of local governance. The true test of this Bill will not be whether municipal police gain more powers, but whether citizens gain greater confidence that those powers are exercised fairly, transparently and in accordance with the bonstitution.
*Claude Phuti is a programmes manager at Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association. He can be contacted at +263779631183
