Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |147 other party on the basis of non-performance when it has not itself performed its own part. It must first perform its part before it penalises the other party for non-performance.”20 In this vein, it is common cause that a significant part of the people affected by on-going demolitions have been living in the so-called ‘illegal’ structures for some considerable time and have even been paying their rates and municipal charges to the authorities. The local authorities are the administrative bodies charged with town planning and design of urban settlements by the Regional Town and Country Planning Act. Local authorities have the power to stop and prohibit the erection of any unplanned structure or the development of such unplanned settlements. It is submitted that in the present circumstances, the local authorities have failed to act promptly and within a reasonable time to demolish and stop the erection of unplanned dwellings. It is submitted that waiting for a number of years before determining whether a settlement is planned or not constitutes a breach of the duty of administrative bodies to act promptly and within the reasonable time frame. The homes which have been demolished and are being demolished were built in full view of the local authorities but they did not take any active steps to stop the development of the settlements, and only acted after a considerable amount of time has lapsed. The local authorities had failed to perform their part timeously and thus cannot penalise the residents of the unplanned settlements for their own non-performance. The administrative conduct by the city fathers does not meet the requirement that administrative conduct be prompt as prescribed by s68 of the constitution. Section 68 of the Constitution also provides that every person has a right to administrative conduct that is procedurally and substantively fair. Procedural fairness connotes that the people who will be affected by the administrative conduct should be given an opportunity to make representations before the administrative authority. This is known as the audi partem rule which means to hear the other side.21 The position was aptly captured by Chatukuta J in Mtizira v Epworth Local Board and 20 21 2005 (1) ZLR 27 (H) cited by G. Feltoe , ibid at page 25 See Section 2 of the Administrative Justice Act , see also G.Feltoe, ibid page 54