By Staff Reporter
LOCAL authorities will now be required to provide residents and ratepayers with services that conform to set minimum standards.
This follows the approval and adoption by Cabinet of the Minimum Service Delivery Standards Framework, which prioritises water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, roads and public lighting, corporate governance, public health, environmental issues and housing and community services.
Speaking during a post-cabinet briefing in Harare on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Jenfan Muswere, revealed that the benchmarks had been approved by cabinet, which is chaired by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“Cabinet considered and approved the Minimum Service Delivery Standards for Local Authorities Framework. The nation will recall that in 2023, His Excellency the President, Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa officially launched the Blueprint on ‘A call to Action. No Compromise to Service Delivery: First stage of interventions to modernise the operations of local authorities towards Vision 2030’.
“Local authorities were directed to develop roadmaps towards the attainment of the Vision. On its part, the Government of Zimbabwe developed minimum service delivery standards to guide local authorities in the implementation of their roadmaps,” said Muswere.
The objectives for developing minimum service delivery standards include defining the minimum levels of services that local authorities should provide, and the nature of service recipients should expect in terms of quantity, quality, time and cost.
Other objectives are to determine the minimum cost for the provision of services, to provide uniformity and consistency in the provision of services at local level, and to provide a basis upon which feedback on the level of satisfaction against the standards will be evaluated.
“Each area has performance indicators, benchmarks and performance standards. The data will be submitted online, with a real-time dashboard system being implemented to track, monitor and evaluate progress.
“The performance of local authorities, both urban and rural, will be based on assessments set in the minimum service delivery standards framework,” he said.
Muswere added that residents and ratepayers must demand from local authorities services commensurate with what they are billed. He said residents must ignore bills for services that would not have been delivered.