CITY of Harare (CoH) is failing to deliver on its service delivery targets due to a preoccupation by 'lazy and incompetent' employees and councillors to pursue selfish personal agendas, an official has said.

CoH's Environmental Management Committee chairperson, Cecilia Chimbiri, told the Commission of Inquiry chaired by Retired Justice Maphios Cheda that poor work ethic at the council was the root cause of challenges facing the capital.

In May, President Emmerson Mnangagwa swore in a commission of inquiry into issues bedevilling the local authority since 2017. The panel was established in Section 2(1) of the Commission of lnquiry Act (Chapter 10:07).

Other members of the commission are Steven Chakaipa, Lucia Gladys Matibenga, Khonzani Ncube and Tafadzwa Charles Hungwe while Local Government permanent secretary, John Bhasera, is the secretary.

While appraising the commission this week, a prominent Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) councillor, went into unfamiliar mode attacking the opposition-controlled municipality.

Chimbiri insists the local authority has failed on service delivery as a result of the lackadaisical approach of clueless leaders at Town House.

"We do have a lazy kind of leadership that is not prepared to move forward and to make service delivery a priority in this city," Chimbiri told commissioners.

She alleged that instead of providing solutions, City Fathers have been pulling in different directions and pursuing personal agendas while progress updates that should be submitted weekly are not coming.

Harare's service delivery standards are at an all-time low characterised by perennial water shortages, uncollected garbage, non-functional street lighting and haphazard town planning, among other shortcomings.