OVER ZiG500 000 was siphoned from council accounts in just four days by five municipality employees using fake "super user" accounts to loot municipal funds.
The stunning disclosure of the digital fraud came to light during a full council meeting at Town House last week, sparking outrage among councillors.
Councillors said the breach underscored the city's critical vulnerability, exacerbated by the continued absence of a secure enterprise resource planning (ERP) system—a comprehensive software platform for managing city finances and services that Harare has lacked for years.
The long-awaited ERP system, designed to prevent such security failures, will not be operational until 2026, the council's fnance director, Godfrey Kusangaya, revealed.
"We have signed all the paperwork and the implementation will be done in January 2026," Kusangaya said during the meeting.
The ERP is seen as vital for plugging financial leaks.
During the meeting, mayor Jacob Mafume directly confronted the council's IT manager, questioning whether he was aware of the individuals "tampering with our records and altering people's bills."
"It has been brought to my attention that there are people with 'super user' access, who are entering and tampering with our systems," Mafume said.
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"I heard that in a space of four days, ZiG 500 000 has been taken from about 40 client accounts or more."
He ordered a swift investigation and a comprehensive report, emphasising the scale of the losses.
"I think you need to work fast because if ZiG 500 000 has been looted in four days, we are losing a lot of money every month," the mayor added.
"We will follow each and every account that has been tampered with by these individuals."
He directly linked the theft to the absence of a robust financial management system, expressing frustration at the slow pace of change.
"I always say we need a robust ERP because money is being stolen every day, and you act as if I am the one who is stealing,” Mafume said.
The lack of an ERP system has long been identified as a major weakness in Harare's governance, creating opportunities for corruption and financial mismanagement.
An ERP system integrates key functions—including accounting, procurement, and billing—into a single, transparent, and auditable platform.
Without it, the city relies on older, more vulnerable systems that are easier to manipulate, as the recent heist appears to demonstrate.
Mafume said the latest breach and the delayed implementation timeline suggest that residents and the city's finances remain exposed to similar sophisticated cyber-fraud for the foreseeable future.
A commission of inquiry into City of Harare operations exposed massive fraud and looting running into several millions of dollars amid collapsing service delivery.
