News / National
Harare City Council in financial squeeze
21 Sep 2023 at 06:15hrs | Views
The Harare City Council (HCC) is grappling with a severe financial crisis, resulting in delayed salary payments for the first time in many years. In response to this crisis, Town Clerk Hosea Chisango convened a meeting with district officers to brainstorm ideas for improving revenue collection.
"We are here because the City of Harare is in a financial crisis. For the first time in many years, we are failing to pay salaries on time. I want to encourage all of you to communicate openly as we brainstorm on how to improve revenue collection. This will build a culture of trust and collaboration, which is essential for achieving our goals," he stated.
Harare is currently facing significant challenges, including acute water shortages and various service delivery problems.
Chisango emphasized that the municipality's revenue collection had hit an all-time low, affecting its ability to meet salary obligations.
"As district officers in your new enhanced roles as drivers of service delivery and revenue collection at the local level, it is important that you are customer-responsive, dedicated, and self-driven, particularly in ensuring that the residents in your districts pay for the services rendered. You must be self-driven in ensuring that customer complaints are addressed on time.
"You will all agree with me that we have reached an all-time low in revenue collection because, as a collective, we have not made reasonable efforts to collect what we are owed," he added.
Harare recently elected a new mayor, Ian Makone, who highlighted that corruption was among the factors hindering service delivery.
"We will work side by side with the deputy mayor to bring life to this city and monitor all the cash flows. We will not have mercy for anyone involved in corruption. Arrests and dismissals will be made, but we encourage the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and other institutions responsible for investigations to do their work thoroughly so that no one is wrongfully charged," Mayor Makone stated.
"We are here because the City of Harare is in a financial crisis. For the first time in many years, we are failing to pay salaries on time. I want to encourage all of you to communicate openly as we brainstorm on how to improve revenue collection. This will build a culture of trust and collaboration, which is essential for achieving our goals," he stated.
Harare is currently facing significant challenges, including acute water shortages and various service delivery problems.
Chisango emphasized that the municipality's revenue collection had hit an all-time low, affecting its ability to meet salary obligations.
"As district officers in your new enhanced roles as drivers of service delivery and revenue collection at the local level, it is important that you are customer-responsive, dedicated, and self-driven, particularly in ensuring that the residents in your districts pay for the services rendered. You must be self-driven in ensuring that customer complaints are addressed on time.
"You will all agree with me that we have reached an all-time low in revenue collection because, as a collective, we have not made reasonable efforts to collect what we are owed," he added.
Harare recently elected a new mayor, Ian Makone, who highlighted that corruption was among the factors hindering service delivery.
"We will work side by side with the deputy mayor to bring life to this city and monitor all the cash flows. We will not have mercy for anyone involved in corruption. Arrests and dismissals will be made, but we encourage the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and other institutions responsible for investigations to do their work thoroughly so that no one is wrongfully charged," Mayor Makone stated.
Source - newsday
