COUNCILS COLLAPSE WHILE ZANU PF KEEPS PEOPLE IN THE DARK
Zimbabwe’s councils are collapsing in front of everyone. The Auditor-General’s 2024 report showed how billions of public funds are being wasted or stolen while people live with uncollected garbage, dry taps, and unfinished clinics. It is not a mistake. It is a system designed to leak, to bleed, and to fail.
Across 92 councils, 1 042 issues were raised in just one year. More than a thousand red flags. Yet nothing changes. The same problems come up every year. Why? Because people inside councils are too afraid to speak. They see the abuse first, but they know there is no whistleblower law to protect them. In Zimbabwe, silence is survival. And that silence is killing accountability.
Out of 92 local authorities, 52 failed to submit their financial statements by March 2024. Some had not done so for three years. That means billions of dollars from devolution funds and ratepayers moved through councils with no independent check. Councillors and residents were kept in the dark, on purpose.
The devolution programme was supposed to bring services closer to people. Instead, it has become another feeding trough. Ruwa Town Council received ZWL 1.2 billion for water projects. The projects stalled. Residents still queue at boreholes. Buhera RDC was given money for boreholes. The money was used, but boreholes were left unfinished. Villagers still fetch water from rivers. Gokwe South RDC paid for road works. No roads were done. Chegutu bought a refuse truck. The truck vanished before it was even commissioned.
These are not accidents. They are deliberate thefts. Somebody inside knows where the money went. Somebody saw the papers. But in a country without whistleblower protection, speaking up means losing your job, your safety, or even your life. So silence wins, and corruption grows.
Councils are also starving themselves with leakages. Harare and Bulawayo failed to collect millions in unpaid rates. In Bindura RDC, cash was collected but not banked for weeks. Staff simply kept the money. In Kadoma, debtors owed over ZWL 1.4 billion, yet the council had no plan to recover it. The result is simple: residents are told councils are broke, but the truth is money is being stolen from within.
Assets are vanishing too. In Bulawayo, 11 council vehicles disappeared from the asset register. In Marondera, land was sold in the dark, with councillors and officials among the buyers. In Zvishavane, title deeds went missing. In Chegutu, the refuse truck bought with devolution funds simply disappeared. Again, insiders know what happened. But silence is safer.
The collapse of basic services tells the story better than any report. In Chitungwiza, sewage flowed in the streets while sewer upgrade funds disappeared. In Masvingo, garbage piled up while refuse projects went unfinished. In Kwekwe, taps ran dry while money for water chemicals was diverted. In Buhera, villagers drank unsafe water because boreholes were never completed. Every missing receipt, every fake tender, every vanished truck is not just paperwork. It is human suffering.
In 2023, councils were flagged for 998 issues. In 2024, the number rose to 1 042. The problems are not being fixed. They are multiplying. Because no one is punished. Because those who could expose the rot remain silent.
The Auditor-General looks back, but by the time reports come out, the money is gone. Whistleblowers can act in real time. A finance clerk in Bindura could have warned when money was not banked. An engineer in Buhera could have spoken up about boreholes. A procurement officer in Ruwa could have exposed the fake water project. But without protection, they keep quiet.
Zimbabwe does not need another report. We need courage, legal courage, to protect the truth-tellers. Whistleblower laws would break the code of silence and turn insiders into allies of accountability. Every day without such laws is another day corruption wins. And when corruption wins, residents lose water, roads, clinics, and dignity.
The numbers are clear. The evidence is damning. The silence is deadly. Zimbabwe must act now.
This article is one of the most powerful pieces I’ve read on corruption in our country. It doesn’t just blame , it explains the system of silence that keeps theft alive. The line ‘In Zimbabwe, silence is survival’ perfectly captures why nothing ever changes. We desperately need whistleblower laws to protect the brave souls who can expose this rot before the next billion disappears. Zimbabwe doesn’t lack reports. It lacks protection for truth-tellers. This should be printed and placed on every MP’s desk.
This article is too dramatic and one-sided. The Auditor-General’s report is part of government transparency, not proof of collapse. The Devolution Programme is still new, and mistakes are expected. The author should stop painting every challenge as corruption, development takes time. Opposition-run councils are the ones failing, not the government. Harare, Bulawayo, and Chitungwiza are controlled by CCC councillors who have no idea how to manage funds. It’s unfair to blame ZANU PF for the mess caused by incompetent opposition leadership in local authorities.
The article ignores progress made under devolution. Roads are being fixed, clinics are being built, and communities are being empowered. But some people just want to discredit the system because they hate the government. Constructive criticism is welcome, but this is just negativity for attention. This is the usual opposition propaganda dressed as journalism. Every year the Auditor-General releases reports, and every year anti-government activists use them to attack the state. Instead of focusing on failures, why not highlight how much the government has recovered since sanctions were imposed?