Rural District Councils and Urban Councils (By-laws) (Repeal)

Seventy-one further by-laws are added to the list of council by-laws being repealed, taking the schedule in SI 40 of 2026 from item 24 to item 95. Almost all were made during 2025, with two from early 2026.

Seven councils are affected: the City of Masvingo, Plumtree Town, Shurugwi Town Council, Insiza Rural District Council, Chivi Rural District Council, Chimanimani Rural District Council and Murehwa Rural District Council.

The subject matter reaches most of what a council regulates day to day — water, sewerage and drainage; traffic, clamping and tow-away; abandoned vehicles; public health and food hygiene; hawkers and vendors; control of livestock; dog licensing; noise and advertising; wells and boreholes; cemeteries; mining and mineral panning; way-leaves; taxi-cabs and cycle licensing; community halls, stadia and parks; hairdressers, beauticians and barbers; game meat; fishing; and in Plumtree's case, control of worship in open spaces.

What the regulations do not say is what replaces them. Residents and traders in these towns and districts are affected directly — clamping fees, vending licences, water charges and livestock rules all sat in the repealed instruments — but this instrument gives no transitional provision, no savings clause for anything done under the old by-laws, and no commencement date.