Zimbabwe’s local councils are falling apart while the ruling party looks away. The Auditor-General’s 2024 report on local authorities is a painful reminder of just how far the country has collapsed. It uncovered 1 042 issues across 92 councils in a single year. That is not a typo. That is one thousand and forty two problems, from stolen money to abandoned projects to missing vehicles. What is even more disturbing is that these issues are not new. They are repeated year after year and nothing ever changes. That is not failure. That is planned decay.
The people who work inside councils see the rot every day but most stay silent. And who can blame them. In a country where whistleblowers are not protected, keeping quiet is the safest choice. Workers know that exposing corruption can cost them their jobs or worse. So they stay silent and the theft continues. Zimbabwe’s silence is not from ignorance. It is from fear. And that fear is costing us everything.
More than half of the country’s councils did not submit their financial statements on time. Out of 92, only 40 met the March 2024 deadline. Some councils have not submitted accounts for three years. That means billions of dollars were used without any independent oversight. That is money meant for water, clinics and roads. In a functioning country, insiders would have blown the whistle. In Zimbabwe, silence covers the abuse and the abuse gets worse.
Take the devolution funds for example. They were meant to bring development to local communities. Instead, they became a feeding trough for looters. Ruwa Town Council received ZWL 1.2 billion for water projects. The money disappeared. Residents still queue at boreholes. Buhera got borehole drilling funds but the boreholes were left incomplete. Gokwe South paid for roads that were never built. Chegutu bought a refuse truck that vanished before it was even used. These are not just failures. These are crimes.
Revenue collection was another disaster. Harare and Bulawayo let millions go uncollected. Bindura kept collected money in staff hands for weeks. Kadoma was owed over ZWL 1.4 billion and had no plan to recover it. Councils cry that they are broke but they are leaking money like sieves. It is not that they do not have resources. It is that the system is built to waste and steal them.
The abuse of council property is shocking. Bulawayo had 11 vehicles that vanished from the register. Marondera sold land without any valuation and the buyers included their own councillors. In Zvishavane, title deeds simply disappeared. Staff used fuel and vehicles for personal errands. Chegutu’s missing truck is still under investigation but no one has been arrested. This is not governance. This is gangsterism with a letterhead.
And on the ground, the results are in your face. In Chitungwiza, raw sewage runs through homes while the sewer fund is empty. In Masvingo, garbage mounts while refuse trucks lie idle. In Kwekwe, taps run dry because chemicals were never bought. In Buhera, villagers drink from rivers because boreholes were never finished. Every fake receipt and vanished truck means real suffering for someone.
The Auditor-General keeps sounding the alarm. Last year there were 998 issues. This year it rose to 1 042. That means things are getting worse. The question is who will stop it. The answer is no one if whistleblowers remain unprotected. Without a strong law to defend those who speak up, silence will continue. And silence is how corruption survives.
Zimbabwe does not need more audits. We need action. The numbers tell the story. The victims are in every town. The system is broken. What is missing is courage. Whistleblowers must be protected. Corruption must be punished. Until then, the councils will keep collapsing and ZANU PF will keep watching.
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