BY RICHARD MUPONDE
A 2019 report by Auditor-General Mildred Chiri has exposed massive malpractices among local authorities, with some said to be operating without key policy documents, a practice which promotes corruption and undercuts service delivery.
She cited failure by councils to review payrolls prior to processing, absence of control over contracted out services, improper management of council assets, development of, among other internal control deficits.
“Governance and service delivery issues have continued to dominate my report for local authorities. Out of 59 issues I am reporting, 34 related to the area of governance, while 25 relate to revenue collection, employment costs, procurement and service delivery,” Chiri said.
She said some Gweru City councillors, whose terms of office had expired, were yet to pay for the stands they were allocated at concessionary rates on condition that they would pay in full within their term of office.
“Gweru City Council did not have supporting documents such as a record of stands sold,” she said.
Chiri said Masvingo City Council was failing to meet demand for treated water as it was producing 30 megalitres per day against a demand of 48 megalitres.
“In addition, there were instances of sewage spillages in areas like Old Mucheke suburbs and this flowed into the near-by streams, which feed into the council main source of water (Lake Mutirikwi),” she said.
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On Mutare City Council, the auditor-general said the local authority failed to bank all cash collected, and could not account for about $1,1 million which was written off as part of a promotion to encourage residents to settle their bills.
“In addition, the city council was unable to provide a breakdown of $1,1 million written off as part of a discount promotion. Mutare City Council had one ambulance servicing the whole city.”
In Bindura, she said suburbs such as Brockdale, Woodbrooke, Greenhill, Cleverhill and Chiwaridzo 3 (Garikayi) were yet to access tap water since their establishment and were also using a decommissioned mine as a dumpsite.
“Bindura Municipality paid US$90 850 towards the acquisition of a front-end-loader in December 2018, but the piece of equipment had not been delivered at the time of the audit in October 2020. The municipality also had billed accounts with no valid names, some of which had been created by unknown system users. In addition, the municipality had no functioning fire tenders,” she said.
Chegutu City Council and Chiredzi Town Council were said to have 80% and over 50%, respectively, of their residents with non-functional water meters, thereby affecting revenue collection as the local authorities could not account for water used.
“Chinhoyi Municipality lost 62,5% of its processed water, on the other hand, Shackleton and Alaska areas had 1 694 households without access to potable water, while Rujeko suburb had 365 out of its 380 households without water accounts,” Chiri said
Marondera Municipality was said to be only able to provide 13,5 megalitres against a daily demand of 27 megalitres and also did not have a list of leased or rented properties.
“The audit findings warrant the attention of management and those charged with governance. There is a need for continuous improvement in accountability and transparency aspects in local authorities,” she said.
- Follow Richard on Twitter @muponderichard
