OVER 1,000 individuals had unauthorised access to the City of Harare’s financial system, raising concerns about potential corruption and misuse of funds running into several millions of dollars amid collapsing service delivery.
This was revealed during the last full council meeting of the year at Town House, where mayor Jacob Mafume inquired about the "super user", who had tampered with the system.
In response, a council official stated that the case had been reported to the police and that reports indicated 1 000 people had the authority to open accounts using the council's system.
Mafume told councillors and employees that the council was a public institution, not personal property.
"Take your work seriously when you are here," he said.
“The enterprise resource package (ERP) system coming on board will reduce theft.
"The theft that has been happening has been due to human factors.
"If 1 000 people have access to the council system, it’s a chaotic situation. Let’s have a tight system."
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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 complained that the council system had not been fully digitalised, resulting in council employees targeting loopholes to steal from the municipality.
“The systems have been manipulated. Super users have gone in to take money and create accounts," he said.
"We had 1,000 people who had authority to create an account within our system — that’s how loose our system was.
"We are tightening controls around profligacy, corruption, and misuse of council funds so we can focus on investments, housing, and other projects.”
Mafume indicated that the council intends to prosecute the super user and involved residents.
“We are going to prosecute residents whose bills were manipulated," he said.
"Some were approached and agreed to pay a certain amount to an individual and a minimal amount to the council to clear their bills.
"Those ratepayers must come forward, or we will prosecute them. We have the records."
He added that the council plans to digitalize most operations to reduce human intervention.
“People will not have to visit physical offices for many of the services we offer.”
This follows a recent revelation that five council workers used fake accounts to steal ZiG $500,000 from residents in just four days.
