Suburban
AS the Harare Municipality continues to exhibit incompetence in a number of areas, residents are becoming increasingly annoyed by the council’s inability to fix its billing system.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
Residents blame the chaotic billing system for the poor revenue collection arguing the problematic billing system is the root cause for poor and in some situations non-existent service delivery.
In a statement this week, the Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association (BRRA) said it is mind boggling how an institution with multiple assets and a human capital base has failed to find effective and efficient solutions to what should be among their major priorities.
“As residents, we are left with no option but to resort to speculation that this is against the grain of the numerous narratives and attempts at damage control tactics engaged by the city authorities. One part of us is suspicious of the entire system and a line of thought is slowly developing among residents pointing to the fact that this sham situation is well orchestrated and is creating conduits of siphoning money from the organisation by some unscrupulous individuals.
“There is no service by council that we can think of that does not require residents to fork out extra money to council employees in order to get something done. There are now multiple parallel structures within the municipality which are sidelining the normal revenue collection channels and centering activities around employees if one is to get expedited service. Shortages are created in the system so as to allow corrupt individuals within council to offer alternative services during their working hours and sometimes as piece jobs outside of working hours,” the BRRA said.
The BRRA further alleged that it may not surprise Harare residents that equipment, tools and spares belonging to the local authority are being used for the benefit of individuals who still get salaries and bonuses.
“On the other hand, questions arise on whether Harare City Council are engaging the best human capital. Some of the challenges they are going through can easily be addressed by recent graduates. Residents who have worked or have had experience in well-oiled and efficient organisational systems are having a hard time coming to terms with the gaps in the operations of the authority. The situation is further exacerbated by frequent connotations of political issues which is not what residents want to hear. A manager should just be a manager with capacity to lead, plan, organise and control their particular portfolio.
“The collage of educational qualifications we hear to be among council employees which include Masters degrees and PhDs is not in sync with the output. Failure by managers and information technology experts, who drive state of the art vehicles awarded to them by council and some living in luxurious council residences with several other fringe benefits, to design an effective revenue collection stream leaves us wondering on the criterion used to engage council workers,” the residents body said.
In May this year, Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo said the City of Harare needed to fix its billing system since the local authority had admitted on its own that its current ICT system was a big let-down.
“They have been using software which, by their own admission, they had already made a resolution in council to say this ICT is not working and they had already requested that the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) should come and look at that system so that they can get help.
“Today, the Vice Chancellor (of HIT) and his Dean who is responsible for innovation in the university were with us together with Harare City Council and the President said yesterday, ‘do everything to make sure that Harare gets on a digital system that can look at all the systems, including their valuation rolls, billing system, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for instance, which can indicate to us what services are not being given in what areas at the touch of a button. Right now if you went and ask where water leakages or sewerage outbursts are, they will not know and yet in Mutare as I said, you can now at the touch of a button, with the help of HIT, they now know where things are not right. So, let us give ourselves an opportunity so that we can correct Harare and if correcting Harare situation means we must publicise those who are not paying, then we should be able to do so,” Minister Moyo said during a question and answer session.
He gave the example of Mutare City Council which has improved its revenue collection through adopting the Harare Institute of Technology’s LADS system.
“If I can give you an example of what has happened by implementing the system that I am talking about in Mutare and the success that we have got.
‘‘Two years ago, Mutare was collecting at 47 percent within six months and when they started implementing this LADS system, they are now at 85 percent. Results have been that it is the only local authority which has paid all loans to Government; it has paid all the ZIMRA debt, ZINWA, all the pension arrears and is up to date. Not only are they up to date in their operations, they have now invested $US500 000 in investments and keeping a cash outlay of $US200 000 physical and this is because of a system that we think will help Harare.
“So, I want to assure the Honourbale Member that the narration that I have given, while it lacks the assurance that we can collect, we want to walk with them on a journey that will transform the billing system and therefore the service delivery system of Harare,” the Minister said in response to questions from Harare North Member of Parliament Mr Allan Markham.
Early this year, Borrowdale residents raised concern over the City of Harare’s billing system saying it was failing to capture their payments and credit their accounts accordingly as it emerged that the municipality was struggling to fix the billing system.
