By Chris Musekiwa 

In its quest to accelerate the implementation of the Call to Action – No Compromise to Service Delivery Blueprint, which was launched by His Excellency President  Emmerson Mnangagwa in November 2023 as one of the vehicles towards achieving Vision 2030, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works (MLGPW) recently unveiled a new technical arm in the ministry. The Local Authorities Technical Services Unit (LATSU) will be housed within the Ministry.  

LATSU has already hit the ground running with the purchase of service delivery equipment which was commissioned by the Ministry at the event which was attended by Mayors, Chairpersons and Town Clerks and Chief Executive Officers of local authorities. In total the  Ministry has ordered 85 pieces of equipment which include 40 refuse compactors, 40 tipper trucks and 5 yellow equipment such as front-end loaders and excavators at a cost of US$9 million. The Ministry has so far taken delivery of 17 refuse compactors and 3 tipper trucks. The equipment is expected to capacitate local authorities to implement the Minimum Service Delivery Standards launched by the State President in July this year. 

Introducing LATSU to local authorities representatives who included Mayors and Chairpersons, Town Clerks and Chief Executive Officers of local authorities,  MLGPW Permanent Secretary, Dr John Basera explained the functions of the Unit. He said that local authorities that are struggling with solid waste management, or poor roads can hire the relevant equipment at a nominal fee.  

Dr John Basera introduced Engineer Mutizwa who will be the head of LATSU as chairperson of the committee which coordinates the work of Unit. 

“LATSU as a technical backstopping unit is made up of several departments which include Disaster Risk Management, Local Authorities, Finance and others. However, it needs to be supported financially for servicing of equipment, purchase of spare parts and consumables,” said Dr Basera. 

“This is how it works. If the Ministry discovers that a local authority is overwhelmed by solid waste  and knowing that the President and Minister says no to a dirty environment, we trigger laws that allow the Ministry to intervene. We will send the equipment, but we will charge nominal or sub commercial fees just to enable us to maintain the equipment and pay the operators,” said the Permanent Secretary. 

Officiating at the event, the MLGPW Minister Hon Daniel Garwe said that when the President launched the Call-to-Action Blueprint, local authorities were not adequately equipped to implement the Blueprint.  

“Today we are launching LATSU, a project which is a brainchild of Dr Basera and his team at the Ministry which capacitates the Ministry so that local authorities in need of equipment can hire it. 

“We are gathered here for are 20 pieces of equipment which have been delivered out of a total of 85 pieces ordered. By the end of the year all the 85 pieces are expected to have been delivered,” said the Minister.  

The Minister reminded local authorities that to have a clean city begins with local authorities cleaning their environments. He said that night vending was one of the causes of littering and fouling of streets and hence the decision to ban night vending. He added that during the night there are no toilets and vendors end up fouling the streets and that municipal workers are complaining about having to clean up human fecal matter in the sanitary lanes.