HARARE – The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works has issued a sweeping directive barring all local authorities with outstanding salary arrears and statutory obligations from foreign travel, out-of-town workshops and purchase of condition-of-service vehicles.
The measures, contained in Circular Number 9 of 2026 on Measures to Address Salary Arrears and Outstanding Statutory Obligations, take immediate effect.
According to the circular, no local authority that owes its workers will be permitted to undertake foreign travel for its officials until the arrears have been cleared, with the Ministry warning that any requests for foreign travel authorisation will not be considered favourably while councils remain in default.
In the same vein, councils with salary arrears have been prohibited from conducting workshops, retreats, conferences or similar activities outside their respective jurisdictions. Such activities, where necessary, must now be held within the local authority’s area and only when there is demonstrable operational necessity and budgetary availability.
The Ministry has also suspended the purchase of vehicles intended for personal allocation or as a condition of service for senior management and other officers. The ban will remain in place until all outstanding statutory obligations have been fully settled and salary arrears cleared.
However, the directive makes an exception for service delivery. Councils will still be allowed to procure vehicles and capital equipment strictly required for essential service delivery and critical infrastructure operations, provided the purchases are demonstrably necessary, adequately justified, budgeted for, and comply with procurement laws. The Ministry stressed that such procurement must not compromise the settlement of salaries and statutory obligations.
All affected local authorities have been ordered to prepare and implement time-bound financial recovery and compliance plans, clearly indicating total outstanding liabilities, measures to improve revenue collection and expenditure control, and proposed settlement schedules with timelines for clearing the arrears.
To enforce compliance, councils will be required to submit regular reports to the Ministry detailing their current salary arrears, outstanding statutory obligations, and proposed measures for clearing them, as well as progress updates on their recovery plans.
The Ministry said the overall purpose of the measures is to promote financial discipline, protect the welfare of employees, safeguard statutory compliance, and ensure public resources are prioritised towards essential service delivery.
The directives under Circular 9 of 2026 are directly aligned to Vision 2030’s goal of a “devolved governance system for prosperous and sustainable communities by 2030” and the priorities of NDS2, which emphasizes entrenchment of devolution, fiscal discipline, and accountable, citizen-centred service delivery. By restricting non-essential expenditure such as foreign travel, external workshops and luxury vehicles for councils in arrears, and redirecting resources towards clearing salaries, statutory obligations and essential service delivery equipment, the Ministry is enforcing sound public financial management, protecting worker welfare and restoring public trust in local authorities as key drivers of devolution, thereby ensuring that public resources at the lowest tier of government contribute meaningfully to sustainable development, improved livelihoods and attainment of an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
