Story by John Nhandara
THE Harare City Council has admitted financial mismanagement within the local authority, leading to poor service delivery.
Harare City Council Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume appeared before the Commission of Inquiry into the state of affairs at the local authority, where he revealed a lack of financial accountability due to the absence of an enterprise resource planning system.
“There is an absence of an electronic resource planning (ERP). The chasing away of enterprise resource package in 2019 at the recommendation of management has resulted in the City Council not managing to produce audited accounts.
“ERP is the only tool the auditor general and management can verify accounts hence management conspired to get rid of ERP,” Mayor Mafume said.
“The books of accounts are done manually, which means documentation can be changed and very difficult to chase.”
Councillor Mafume admitted financial mismanagement within the city council’s operations is contributing to a marked decline in service delivery across the capital.
“We have not been able to repair street lights. We are trying to introduce street lights levy because we are unable to repair the street lights.”
The Commission of Inquiry has so far exposed corruption within the Harare City Council, including nepotism and financial mismanagement.
The issue of hefty salaries for top officials has also been topical with Harare City Council Acting Executive Assistant to the Town Clerk, Major Retired Matthew Marara earning a monthly salary of US$12 000.
