The ongoing inquiry into the Harare City Council operations has uncovered a web of financial mismanagement with top officials admitting that lack of oversight and inadequate procurement and accounting practices created a fertile ground for abuse of ratepayers’ money.
Trust Freddy Suburban Correspondent
This comes as the council failed to present accounts for all seven of the private companies it owns, including City Parking and Rufaro Marketing Private Limited, a property company owned by Harare City Council that rents out former beer halls and bars, raising suspicions that millions of dollars are being diverted into individuals’ pockets.
Harare City Council’s acting finance director Mr Godfrey Kusangaya told the Commission of Inquiry into the city’s operations on Monday that the council’s accounting system was in disarray, failing to align with requisite accounting principles and standards.
“I will start with the consolidation of accounts from the subsidiaries. These were partial.We did not receive all of them. And the requirement is that we are supposed to consolidate all accounts from subsidiaries. Now, the fact that we have partial information from these subsidiaries and not the main accounts from City Parking and other acquisitions, we were not able to consolidate them.”
Mr Kusangaya openly admitted that ratepayers’ money may have been siphoned off into private hands instead of being deposited into the council’s coffers.
“Once you have not received the audited accounts, you can not rule out that possibility of abuse of ratepayers’ money because you have no basis to say I am 100 percent certain that there is no such a situation,” he added.
The commission’s investigation further revealed that Rufaro Marketing had failed to submit its financial statements to the council and that current and former council employees were subletting the beer halls for foreign currency while paying minimal or no fees to the council.
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Harare Quarry has also been operating in secrecy, failing to declare its revenue, profits or dividends to the council since 2018.
Mr Kusangaya failed to explain why these private council subsidiaries had failed to present their financial statements.
Harare City Council’s acting valuations and estates manager, Mr Peter Dube, also conceded that the council’s property management system was plagued by numerous loopholes.
He revealed that the property register was still maintained manually using an Excel spreadsheet.
When questioned about his failure to implement an electronic system, Mr Dube said it was a systemic issue that requires a council-wide solution, rather than a solitary fix.
