The objective of local administration shall be to organise the participation of citizens in solving the particular problems of their community, to promote local development, and to promote the deepening and the consolidation of democracy, within the framework of unity of the Mozambican State.
Local administration shall rest on the initiative and the capacity of the people and shall act in strict collaboration with organisations in which the citizens participate.
Article 272. Local Authorities
Local administration shall consist of local authorities.
Local authorities shall be bodies corporate governed by public law, endowed with their own representative bodies, and their purpose shall be to pursue the interests of the local population, without prejudice to national interests and to the role of the State.
Article 273. Categories of Local Authorities
Local authorities shall be municipalities and settlements.
The municipalities shall correspond to the territorial constituency of towns and cities.
The settlements shall correspond to the territorial constituency of administrative posts.
The law may establish other categories of local authorities, which may be either greater or smaller than the territorial constituencies of municipalities or settlements.
Article 274. Creation and Dissipation of Local Authorities
The creation and dissipation of local authorities shall be regulated by law, and changes to the area of a particular local authority shall be preceded by consultation with its bodies.
Article 275. Executive and Decision Making Bodies
The local authorities shall possess and assembly endowed with decision- making powers, and an executive body, which shall be accountable to the assembly, in terms of the law.
The Assembly shall be elected through universal, direct, equal and periodic suffrage and by secret and personal ballot, by the voters living within the territorial constituency of the local authority, according to the system of proportional representation.
The executive body shall be headed by a President, elected through universal, direct, equal and periodic suffrage and by secret and personal ballot, by the voters living with the respective territorial constituency.
Candidates for election to offices of the local authorities may be proposed by political parties, either individually or as coalitions, or by groups of voters, within the terms of the law.
The organisation, the composition and the functioning of the executive bodies shall be defined by law.
Article 276. Local Property and Revenue
Local authorities shall have their own property and revenue.
The law shall determine the property of local authorities and shall establish a local revenue system that guarantees the fair distribution of public resources and ensures that necessary adjustments are made to correct the imbalances between them, subject to the higher interests of the State.
The law shall define the forms of technical and human support given by the State to the local authorities, without prejudice to their autonomy.
Article 277. Administrative Supervision
The local authorities shall be subject to the administrative supervision of the State.
Administrative supervision over local authorities shall consist of verifying the legality of administrative acts of local authorities, within the terms of the law.
Supervisory power may also be exercised with respect to the merit of administrative acts, but only in cases and within the terms expressly established by law.
Local authority bodies may only be dissolved, even when pursuant to direct elections, as a result of serious legal acts or omissions, as provided for by and in accordance with the terms of the law.
Article 278. Regulatory Powers
Local authorities shall have their own regulatory powers, within the limits of the Constitution and of the laws and regulations issued by authorities with supervisory power over them.
Article 279. Staff of Local Authorities
Local authorities shall have their own staff, in accordance with the law.
The regime governing officers and agents of the State shall be applicable to officers and agents of local administration.
Article 280. Organisation
The law shall guarantee the forms of organisation that the local authorities may adopt to further common interests.
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