Testing the boundaries of Zimbabwe's fiscal decentralisation for urban councils

Abstract

There is a realisation that urbanisation has overstretched the ability and efforts of central governments to serve from the centre, thus, giving rise to the search for a robust decentralisation policy that vests urban local governments with some level of autonomy.1 It is in this context that decentralisation has become critical in order to sufficiently respond to the varied service delivery challenges brought about by increasing urbanisation. However, all efforts to capacitate urban councils through the process of decentralisation are futile if the urban local governments lack the necessary financial means to fulfil their responsibilities.