Government departments facing unpaid council bills could have their water supplies disconnected, putting the spotlight on the growing debt burden that local authorities say is undermining their ability to provide basic services.

The warning comes as councils grapple with billions of dollars in outstanding debts, while central government itself remains among the institutions owing local authorities for services, including water and rates.

In Harare, Mayor Jacob Mafume said the city's debtor book had exceeded ZiG10 billion, with industry owing about ZiG4 billion and residents and government accounting for nearly ZiG6 billion combined. He said recovering the money was critical to restoring the council's capacity to provide water, roads and public lighting.

“Failure to pay translates to poorer roads, unreliable water supplies, inadequate lighting, and reduced service delivery,” Mafume said.

More recent figures presented at a Harare Central pre-budget meeting put the council's overall debtor position at about ZiG11.2 billion, underscoring the scale of the revenue problem confronting the capital.

Harare has also been tightening its revenue-collection systems, including the introduction of prepaid water meters, as the council seeks to reduce unpaid consumption and improve cash flow. The approach shifts part of the city's water-revenue system towards payment before consumption, alongside efforts to strengthen billing and debt collection.

It is against this background that Local Government and Public Works permanent secretary Tafadzwa Muguti told senior officials from all 92 local authorities in Kadoma on Monday that councils should not continue supplying government departments that fail to pay their bills.

Muguti argued that central government could not demand performance from councils while failing to meet its own obligations to them.

“We cannot have a situation where we are making you sign performance contracts, and then we do not deliver on those contracts,” he said. “It has to balance, and this is where we, as central government, have been making a mistake.”

The scale of the wider government arrears problem is reflected in Treasury and Auditor-General reports. Treasury reported that central government owed ZINWA and local authorities the equivalent of US$7.26 million for water and rates at the end of December 2024, while total unvalidated government expenditure arrears were estimated at US$1.685 billion.

Treasury subsequently proposed clearing validated arrears over a five-year period from 2026 to 2030, indicating that the problem extends beyond council bills to a much broader accumulation of unpaid government obligations.

The Auditor-General's 2024 central government audits similarly identified arrears across 39 ministries, departments and agencies amounting to ZWG14.74 billion, US$61.05 million, ZAR733,058 and €214,709. Some of the obligations dated back to 2021.

The audit office warned that accumulated arrears could erode subsequent-year budgets and weaken service delivery. It also found that several government entities struggled to meet their obligations because approved budgets were not always matched by adequate cash support from Treasury.

For councils, however, the consequences of delayed payments are immediate because they still have to finance water treatment, maintenance, refuse collection, roads and other services while waiting for revenue from debtors.

A parliamentary investigation into Harare's water crisis in 2024 found that government entities, industry and households owed the city about ZWG70 million. Government alone accounted for ZWG43 million, including ZWG19 million owed by the Ministry of Defence. The committee said government debt was undermining the city's ability to pay suppliers of water-treatment chemicals.

Harare's problem is also not solely a question of what government owes. The Auditor-General's 2024 local authorities audit identified 92 revenue-collection and debt-recovery weaknesses across 60 councils, warning that the resulting liquidity constraints were compromising programmes and service delivery.

That means Muguti's call for councils to enforce payment against government departments comes as local authorities themselves are being pressed to improve billing, collection and financial management.

His message to councils was nevertheless explicit: Government cannot expect municipalities to meet performance targets while failing to settle the bills generated by its own departments.

“We should all understand that the moment central government does not pay bills to local government, we are removing spanners and screws on a car’s wheel, and it will be in an accident,” Muguti said.