THE recommendations made by a committee appointed to look into the operations at Rufaro Marketing are being implemented in a move that is set to revive the Harare City Council (HCC) cash cow, mayor Jacob Mafume has said.
This comes after a special business committee report on the operations of Rufaro Marketing was released almost two years following the establishment of the committee.
One of the recommendations is that the HCC subsidiary should be run professionally.
The committee also recommended the dismissal of chief executive Daniel Mutiwadirwa.
The report also noted that the set up is not viable for Rufaro Marketing hence a serious business review was necessary to ensure appropriate contribution and return on assets.
The report also said the strategic location of Rufaro Marketing outlets should continue to provide value to residents in accordance with economic trends in those neighbourhoods.
“The time has come for a professional approach and in the interim, the committee recommends the appointment of a professional property management company to provide services in line with the business model which we have provided,” part of the recommendations read.
“The current management of Rufaro Marketing should focus on making good the legacy debt and pay up creditors, recover arrears from tenants and produce audited accounts as part of interim measures.”
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In an interview with NewsDay yesterday, Mafume said the recommendations were being implemented targeting a complete revival of Rufaro Marketing.
“Following special business committee recommendations on Rufaro Marketing, the recommendations are being implemented. We will give you a full report very soon,” he said.
The report condemned Mutiwadirwa for evading the business committee, amid looting allegations.
“The committee has notable difficulty in engaging and meeting with the chief executive of Rufaro Marketing Daniel Mutiwadirwa.
“He evaded co-operation with the committee in providing key comments, evidence to support the work of the committee, given some of the issues already discussed in this report. We strongly recommend that the Rufaro Marketing board and City of Harare consider relieving the CEO (of his) duties,” the report read.
“The committee’s overall impression is that the assets under control of Rufaro Marketing are not achieving an acceptable return and the beer outlets are not attractive.”
The committee also noted significant underutilisation of the vast tracts of land housing the outlets, and that while sub-economic rentals were being realised, there is widespread subletting of stalls at different rentals.
The business committee advised the new leadership to run Harare City Council’s subsidiary company professionally for revenue generation processes.
The committee also said the decline of Rufaro Marketing was caused by structural changes that happened across Harare.
“Until October 2012, Rufaro Marketing was a market leader in brewing and distribution of beer and was also leasing some outlets,” the report read.
Mutiwadirwa was in charge of Rufaro Marketing for almost 15 years, but HCC did not get any revenue during his tenure. He, however, told NewsDay in an interview that the management concentrated on paying debts under his tenure.
“We were paying debts and this is the reason we could not remit anything to Harare City Council,” he said.
