Select country profile:
Zimbabwe
Women in decision-making positions
12%
Members of local deliberative bodies are women (244 elected women)
No woman is Head of State/Government
31%
Parliamentarians are women
24%
Ministers are women

Government organization

Zimbabwe is a unitary republic with two spheres of government: central and local.

One tier of central government and two tiers of local government: provinces/metropolitan provinces and cities; municipalities; towns, local boards and rural districts.
Central government
  • Head of State: The President is directly elected by voters.
  • Head of Government: The President is the Head of State and the Head of Government.
  • Legislative body: Parliament is a bicameral legislature, with an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the House of Assembly). The Senate consists of sixty members directly elected by voters, sixteen chiefs, the President and Deputy President of the National Council of Chiefs, and two members representing persons with disabilities. The National Assembly consists of 210 members directly elected by voters and an additional sixty were reserved seats for women members in the 2013 and 2018 general elections as a temporary special measure. The measure was extended to include the next two general elections (expected in 2023 and 2028).
  • Executive body: The Cabinet consists of the President, the vice presidents, and ministers appointed by the President.
Local government
  • Organization: Local government is organized into two tiers. Zimbabwe is divided in an upper tier of eight provinces and two metropolitan provinces. At the lower tier, in urban areas, there are four local board-level local government units, eight town-level local government units, ten municipalities, and six city-level local government units. In rural areas, there are 58 rural district-level local government units.
  • Competencies: Local government is responsible for making by-laws, rules, and regulations and managing the affairs of the residents of the locality.
  • Ministerial oversight: The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works is responsible for central government oversight of local government.

Overview of local government

Local government composition
Provincial- and metropolitan-level government

Deliberative body: the provincial and metropolitan councils are composed of a chairperson, the mayors and chairpersons, by whatever title they are called, of all urban and rural local authorities in the province, and ten women.

Executive body: the chairperson is elected by the council from a list submitted by the political party which gained the highest number of National Assembly seats in the province.

Metropolitan provinces-level government

Deliberative body: the metropolitan council is composed of the mayors/deputy mayors/chairpersons/deputy chairpersons of the local authorities of the metropolitan provinces, the senators elected to represent the metropolitan province, the members and women members of the National Assembly elected to represent the province. In the metropolitan council of Bulawayo, the mayor of the city of Bulawayo shall be the chairperson of the council. In the metropolitan council of Harare, the mayor of the city of Harare shall be the chairperson of the council and the mayor of the second largest urban local authority shall be the deputy-chairperson.

Executive body: the chairperson is the head of the largest local authority (Bulawayo and Harare).

City, town, local board, and municipal levels of government

Deliberative body: The urban council is composed of at least eight members, including the mayor (in cities and municipalities) or the chairperson (in towns and local board areas), elected members, and appointed councilors (representing special interests, to not exceed ¼ of the total number of elected members). The mayor/ chairperson presides over the urban council; the mayor/ chairperson is also vested with executive powers.

Executive body: The executive committee is composed of all committee chairpersons of the urban council. The mayor/ chairperson also presides over the executive committee.

Rural district-level government

Deliberative body: The rural district council is composed of elected members and members appointed to represent special interest groups. A chairperson is indirectly elected by and from the council to preside over it; the chairperson is not vested with executive powers.

Executive body: The chief executive officer is appointed by the central government to be the executive of the rural district level of government.

Local government elections
Electoral system

Electoral system for local deliberative bodies: majority/plurality (first-past-the-post) or proportional representation (closed list)

  • The first-past–the-post system is used for local authority elections. The candidate with the highest number of votes is declared the winner. The winner in each constituency is the candidate who receives a minimum of one vote more than the other candidate(s).  
  • directly-elected members of the provincial council are elected by an open-list proportional representation system, based on the votes cast for candidates representing political parties in the province concerned in the general election for Members of the National Assembly.

Electoral system for women at the provincial-level government: proportional representation (based on the votes cast candidates representing political parties in the province concerned in the general election for Members of the National Assembly)

Electoral system for mayors: no direct elections; majority/plurality; appointment

  • The mayor is directly elected by voters in cities and municipalities using a majority system.
  • Other executive bodies are either appointed or elected by the winning political party or by the council.

Sources: Electoral Act (consolidated in 2018), article 66; Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013 (amended through 2021), article 268

Quotas

Gender quotas: reserved seats

  • For members of provincial and metropolitan councils, 10 seats are reserved for women. These seats are distributed according to a principle of proportional representation, based on the votes cast candidates representing political parties in the province concerned in the general election for Members of the National Assembly).
  • For local authorities (lower tier of local government), the constitution states that an act of Parliament may provide for the election, by a system of proportional representation such as the one for provincial and metropolitan council,  of at least thirty per centum of the total members of the local council elected on ward basis as women. Currently, there is no legislative basis enforcing this constitutional provision.

Additional quotas: No

Source: Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013 (amended through 2017), articles 268 and 277(4).

Term of elections
  • Term length: 5 years
  • Last local elections: 2018
  • Next local elections: 2023
Electoral management body

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission

National legal framework on local government
National legal framework
  • Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013 (amended through 2021);
  • Consolidated Electoral Act, 2018;
  • Traditional Leaders Act, 2000 (amended through 2016);
  • Local Government Act, 2008 (amended through 2016);
  • Urban Councils Act, 1997 (amended through 2008);
  • Rural District Councils Act, 1988 (amended through 2009);
  • Provincial and Metropolitan Councils Administration Act, 1985 (amended through 2001).
Constitutional provisions on local government

There are constitutional provisions that establish local government in Zimbabwe. According to Article 276 of the Constitution of 2013 (amended through 2021), “a local authority has the right to govern, on its own initiative, the local affairs of the people within the area for which it has been established, and has all the powers necessary for it to do so […] including - a power to make by-laws, regulations, or rules for the effective administration of the areas for which they have been established [and] a power to levy rates and taxes and generally to raise sufficient revenue for them to carry out their objects and responsibilities.”

Legislative provisions on local government

Parliament is responsible for establishing the national legal framework on local government. The key piece of legislation which regulates local government is the Local Government Act of 2008 (amended through 2016), which provides for the establishment of local government and confers powers to the respective local council.

Sources:

1. UN Women: Data on share of women in local government as of 1 January 2023.

2. UN Women: Information on Head of State and Government as of 3 October 2023.

3. Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU): Data on share of women in the single/lower chamber of parliament as of 1 January 2023.

4. IPU and UN Women: Data on share of women in ministerial positions as of 1 January 2023.

5. Information on local government organization as of 1 January 2022.