THE City of Harare could be losing as much as US$200million in potential revenues annually due to corruption, misgovernance and leakages.
This emerged during hearings by a commission of inquiry appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in May last year to investigate council operations since 2017.
Over the past nine months, the commission of inquiry uncovered alarming revelations, including death threats, widespread corruption, mismanagement of public funds among other ill-practices at the municipality.
The five-member commission, chaired by retired judge Justice Maphios Cheda, was established under the Commissions of Inquiry Act.
A significant portion of the City of Harare’s leakages are linked to the absence of a functional enterprise resource planning (ERP) system since 2019.
An ERP system is designed to streamline essential business operations, including finance, human resources, procurement, and revenue collection.
Without such a system in place, the council has faced disorganised billing processes and inefficient revenue collection.
Experts suggest that the city could be missing out on over US$200 million annually in uncollected revenues due to the lack of an effective ERP system.
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Giving evidence before the commission, Harare mayor Jacob Mafume said the situation at Town House is “chaotic”.
Acting finance director, Godfrey Kusangaya admitted that the council’s accounting systems were in a shambolic state.
Former Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda criticised the appointment of unqualified councillors to the boards of city business units previously managed by Harare Sunshine Holdings, which have faced corruption allegations and poor financial performance.
Masunda proposed a committee system for running city business units and highlighted the benefits of privatising operations like City Parking to enhance revenue.
Council chamber secretary Warren Chiwawa revealed that business units like Rufaro Marketing, City Parking and Harare Quarry were operating without proper financial oversight.
Harare Quarry is said to be in total disaster with no remittances to the council despite getting a loan of US$4.5 million.
Audit committee chairperson, Blessing Duma, also disclosed that senior officials were colluding with land developers, resulting in an estimated loss of US$20 million.
Housing director Addmore Nhekairo revealed that councillors were unlawfully distributing land, frequently disregarding established protocols.
The commission heard that the cash-strapped council spent ZiG230 million, approximately US$11 million at the time, on workshops.
It has emerged that council management are spending half a million on salaries per month and US$125 000 on holidays with ratepayers money without proper service.
