URBAN COUNCILS ACT Chapter 29:15 14 Town and city status (1) A growth point, unincorporated urban area, local board or council may apply to the Minister in the form and manner prescribed for a change of its status. (2) Subject to subsections (3) to (6), the Minister shall consider any application made to him in terms of subsection (1) and, if he decides to grant the application, shall take the necessary steps under this Act to effect the change of status applied for. (3) On receipt of an application in terms of subsection (1) in which a municipal council applies for city status, the Minister shall— (a) appoint, at the expense of the municipality concerned, a commission consisting of such number of persons as the Minister may determine to consider the matter and make recommendations to him: Provided that no member of the commission shall be a councillor or employee of the municipality concerned; (b) after the appointment of the commission, publish in the Gazette and in three issues of a newspaper of the appointment of the commission and calling upon any person who wishes to make representations to submit them to the commission before a date specified in that notice, being not less than thirty days after the date of the first publication of the notice in the newspaper. (4) A commission appointed in terms of paragraph (a) of subsection (3) shall consider those matters set out in the First Schedule in addition to any other matters which it considers to be relevant and shall thereafter submit its report to the Minister, and any such report shall refer to the substance and number of any representations made to it as a result of the notice published in terms of paragraph (b) of subsection (3). (5) The Minister shall, as soon as practicable after receiving the report of the commission, lay it before Parliament. (6) If, in pursuance of a resolution of Parliament, an address is presented to the President requesting him to accord city status to the municipality specified in the address, the President may, by proclamation in the Gazette, declare that the status of the municipality concerned shall be altered to that of a city. (7) Where a municipality has been declared in terms of subsection (6) to be a city— (a) the title of the council concerned shall be altered to “city council” instead of “municipal council”; (b) wherever in any law, enactment, deed, contract, agreement or other document reference is made to the municipal council or the municipality concerned, such reference shall be construed as a reference to the city council or city, as the case may be. (8) Any reference in any law or enactment in force in Zimbabwe, whether enacted or made before or after the date of commencement of this Act, to a municipality or municipal council shall be construed as including a reference to a city or city council, as the case may be. PART III PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE INCORPORATION OF RURAL DISTRICT OR TOWN COUNCILS 15 Interpretation in Part III In this Part— “enrolment date” … [Definition repealed by s. 21 of Act No. 21 of 1997.] “incorporation” means the inclusion of a rural district council area or town area within a municipality in terms of paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section four. “initial election” … [Definition repealed by s. 21 of Act No. 21 of 1997.] 21