HARARE residents have rapped the city council for having no database of its billing system, arguing that this is a deliberate move by authorities to engage in corrupt activities.
Mayor Jacob Mafume told a full council meeting last week that the local authority had no information on the number of households it is billing for services.
Mafume read the Riot Act saying heads should roll over the shambolic billing system and called for an urgent meeting of departmental heads to resolve the matter.
In an interview with NewsDay, Harare Residents Trust executive director Precious Shumba said the absence of a land bank was not a mistake, but a deliberate move to abuse the resources.
“The crises at the City of Harare are deliberate. The absence of a land bank is not by mistake, but is deliberate so that only a few bureaucrats know what land is available,” he said.
“The number of properties in the residential, business and central business district geographical areas can be easily known if they want to have them known.
“However, the thieving bureaucrats make it extremely difficult to understand why this has not been possible. Due to the opaque asset registers, the Harare Residents Trust can only speculate what this is because a lot of the properties are connected to the water and sewage reticulation systems after corrupt engineers illegally connected them.”
He hailed Mafume for exposing the rot at Town House.
“The mayor has consistently spoken publicly against the bureaucrats in full council meetings. The City of Harare has operated for over four years without a substantive chamber secretary, finance director and human capital director, who are the heart and soul of any functional local authority,” Shumba said.
Combined Harare Residents Association director Reuben Akili weighed in expressing shock over the billing system.
“This is just a shocker that the Harare City Council’s billing system is in shambles and we are not happy at all. Something must be done,” he said.