THE SILENCE THAT IS KILLING OUR COUNCILS

Zimbabwe’s councils are falling apart while everyone watches. The Auditor-General’s 2024 report shows a country where money is wasted, stolen, or hidden, while people live with dry taps, dirty streets, and clinics that never get finished. The report says 1 042 problems were found in 92 councils in one year. This number is very big. It shows the whole system is broken. The sad thing is that these problems come every year, and still nothing changes.

The main reason is fear. Workers inside the councils see the abuse first, but they keep quiet. They fear losing their jobs if they talk. Zimbabwe has no strong whistleblower law. Because of that, silence feels safer than truth. And because people keep quiet, corruption repeats again and again.

More than half of the councils failed to give their financial accounts on time. Out of 92 local authorities, 52 did not send their statements by March 2024. Some did not produce accounts for three years. This means billions of dollars were used without any independent check. No one knows where the money went. Councillors did not know. Residents did not know. If Zimbabwe had strong whistleblower protection, insiders could warn the public. But in our country, fear covers everything.

The devolution programme was meant to help people. It was supposed to bring services closer to communities. But the Auditor-General found that the money was abused almost everywhere. Ruwa Town Council got ZWL 1.2 billion for water work. The projects stopped, and people still stand in long lines at boreholes. Buhera Rural District Council got borehole money, but many boreholes were never finished. Villagers still drink from rivers. Gokwe South paid contractors for roads that were never fixed. Chegutu bought a refuse truck, but the truck went missing before it was used. These are not accidents. These are planned failures that hurt ordinary people.

Revenue collection was also a mess. Harare and Bulawayo did not collect millions in unpaid bills. Bindura kept collected money in staff hands for weeks before banking it. Kadoma let debts grow to over ZWL 1.4 billion, with no plan to recover the money. Councils say they are broke, but the truth is that money is getting lost inside the system, not outside it.

The report also found shocking abuse of assets. In Bulawayo, 11 vehicles are missing. In Marondera, land was sold without any valuation, and some buyers were councillors. In Zvishavane, important title deeds are missing. Many rural councils let workers use fuel and vehicles for private trips. In Chegutu, the missing refuse truck is “under investigation,” yet no one has been arrested.

The suffering on the ground is real. In Chitungwiza, raw sewage flowed in homes while sewer money vanished. In Masvingo, garbage piled up while projects were abandoned. In Kwekwe, people faced water cuts because money for chemicals was misused. In Buhera, unfinished boreholes left villagers drinking unsafe water. Every missing receipt and every fake project made life harder for the people.

The Auditor-General keeps warning. In 2023, there were 998 issues. In 2024, the number grew to 1 042. Instead of solutions, the problems are growing. No one is punished. Insiders stay silent. The cycle goes on.

Zimbabwe does not need more reports to prove corruption. The truth is already clear. What we need is courage. A strong whistleblower law would protect people who speak. Without that, corruption will win every day. The people will continue to pay the price in broken roads, dirty water, and endless queues. The silence must end now.