HARARE mayor Jacob Mafume says 55% of council revenue is being chewed by salaries, instead of the 30% stipulated by the Local Government ministry.
He was responding to questions asked by members of a commission of inquiry appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in May last year to investigate corruption and financial mismanagement at Town House.
“My own understanding of the situation is that it could probably be higher. It should creep towards 60% or thereabouts and it is not proper,” he said.
“Because our budgets, when we give them, they have certain assumptions which then do not come to fruition and 30% is an administrative peg by the ministry.”
Mafume attributed the municipality’s failure to provide efficient services to a ballooning population and outdated colonial era infrastructure.
“We inherited infrastructure that uses old technology for the piping and they have not been replaced. Our infrastructure was designed for 500 000 people,” Mafume said yesterday.
“It is now catering for close to two million people and therefore, the infrastructure isoverwhelmed, but our departments are doing the best they can in the circumstances.”
He admitted that council is having serious challenges in managing solid waste.
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“Yes, it is not being collected as adequately and consistently as it ought to be. There is collection that happens on a day-to-day basis, otherwise the situation would be far much worse,” he said.
“We have a serious shortage of equipment. We require 60 compactors for the operation. I’m told by the experts we only have about 20 operating on a good day and in many days, we have to 12 operating.
“Then we need fuel. The biggest management issue around collection of waste is fuel. You can have the equipment, but if you don’t have the fuel, you cannot move.”
The mayor said the absence of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has resulted in financial leakages running into millions of dollars.
“One of the major areas that I would point out is the absence of an ERP,” he said.
“From that period (2019), the city council has not been able to produce audited accounts because when you do not have an ERP, what it means is that the books of accounts have to be done manually.
“And when they are being done manually, it also means that documentation events can be changed and are very difficult to trace.”
The commission has received shocking reports of unbridled corruption by council management and councillors.
