Story by Peter Chivhima
THE ongoing Commission of Inquiry into the governance of the Harare City Council has revealed that the local authority is crippled by a legacy of corruption, worsened by the alarming lack of a functional accounting system.
Harare Town Clerk, Hosiah Chisango, who was remanded in custody over a US$9 million street lights scandal, was this Monday summoned before the Commission of Inquiry into the governance of the local authority to answer to allegations of corruption.
Quizzed on Harare City Council’s operations, Chisango admitted that the local authority lacks a consolidated accounting system, making it vulnerable to financial mismanagement.
“This a legacy issue because when I joined the Harare City Council in 1995 these issues were already there. Yes, we do not have a proper accounting system because I joined the organisation and there were no such.”
The commission also heard damning testimonies from witnesses, accusing the Harare City Council of rampant ineptitude and corruption.
“It has come to us that as the Commission is going on, there were efforts by the Harare City Council to remove people from their positions in Harare City Council in a bid to protect their interests. In our view, this movement was going to cover them in their land deals and protect them from being implicated in opaque circumstances,” testified the director of Housing Trust Mr Precious Shumba
Marlborough Industry Cooperative’s chairperson, Mr Innocent Magaya said, “People are being allocated stands without Harare City Council resolutions but we later found out that the City Council officials were involved. The youths were told to occupy the stands which were given to us by one councillor Kudzai Kanzombe. We have a list of people who were evicted by the Harare City Council and as I am speaking the issue is before the courts. 21 people are being affected by the Harare Council’s actions despite us paying our monthly subscriptions.”
The Harare City Council has been in a mess for some years, with residents exposed to poor service delivery.
The Justice Maphios Cheda-led Commission was established by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to probe the council’s management and governance since 2017.
