THE Harare City Council has blamed its failure to deliver adequate services on unpaid bills by ratepayers, citing an ZiG 8 billion debt that is choking its operations.
According to mayor Jacob Mafume, over ZiG 8.4 billion is owed to the council by residents, businesses, and governmental agencies, with a staggering 80% attributed to residents alone.
Other stakeholders account for the remaining 20%.
Addressing journalists at Town House recently, Mafume warned that the financial burden has become critical.
“The decline in service delivery across the city is becoming untenable, driven largely by residents’ reluctance to settle their debts,” Mafume said.
“Council is grappling with a downward spiral in all its service programmes due to funding constraints. Some debts have lingered for over a decade.
“A key metric affecting all service delivery indicators is revenue collection; we aim for a minimum collection rate of 80% by 2026, with aspirations to reach 100% thereafter.”
He said the council has launched a time-bound debt repayment initiative that offers a 20% discount to residents who settle their outstanding balances between January 19 and February 13.
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“This is a measure to encourage people to pay up before we assume measures that many people would consider hard and cruel in this prevailing environment,” he added.
“Those residents who pay their debts in foreign currency will also enjoy additional benefits.
“This includes residents in the diaspora and others who might not have access to local currency.
“We did a blitz for the commercial services sector, and it has produced results.”
He added that the city now has a working enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which costs between US$360,000 and US$500,000 per year to maintain.
The lack of an ERP system was 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.
The ERP is seen as vital for plugging financial leaks. Council recently revealed that council had lost millions of dollars because of leakages in its systems.
An official told a full council meeting last month that 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.
Mafume had 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.
The mayor 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," Mafume told the meeting.
"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.
Harare and other local authorities have been struggling with service delivery for many years with some observers saying the problems were tired to the general malaise in the country.
The central government has also been accused of interfering in the operations of local authorities and imposing its political cadres in top management, leading to incompetent leadership.
