City of Harare accounts shambles exposed

More than 1 000 individuals allegedly had unauthorised access to the City of Harare's financial system, raising alarm over possible large-scale corruption and the misuse of millions of dollars at a time when service delivery in the capital continues to deteriorate.

The startling revelation was made during the last full council meeting of the year held at Town House, where Mayor Jacob Mafume questioned officials about the existence of a so-called "super user" who had allegedly tampered with the council's financial system. In response, a council official told councillors that the matter had been reported to the police and that preliminary reports showed that about 1 000 people had the authority to open accounts using the municipality's system.

Addressing councillors and council employees, Mafume stressed that the local authority was a public institution and not personal property. He urged staff to take their responsibilities seriously, warning that lax controls had created fertile ground for abuse.

"The enterprise resource package system coming on board will reduce theft," Mafume said. "The theft that has been happening has been due to human factors. If 1 000 people have access to the council system, it's a chaotic situation. Let's have a tight system."

The absence of a fully functional enterprise resource planning (ERP) system has long been cited as a major governance weakness at Town House, exposing the city to corruption and financial mismanagement. An ERP system integrates critical functions such as accounting, procurement and billing into a single, transparent and auditable platform. Without it, Harare has continued to rely on outdated and fragmented systems that are easier to manipulate.

Mafume said the council's failure to fully digitalise its operations had allowed employees to exploit loopholes to siphon funds from the municipality. He said the system had been deliberately manipulated, with so-called super users allegedly creating accounts and diverting money.

"We had 1 000 people who had authority to create an account within our system — that's how loose our system was," Mafume said. "We are tightening controls around profligacy, corruption and misuse of council funds so we can focus on investments, housing and other projects."

The mayor warned that the council intended to prosecute not only employees involved in the alleged scheme but also residents who benefitted from manipulated bills. He said some ratepayers had colluded with corrupt officials by agreeing to pay part of their bills directly to individuals while remitting smaller amounts to the council.

"We are going to prosecute residents whose bills were manipulated," Mafume said. "Some were approached and agreed to pay a certain amount to an individual and a minimal amount to the council to clear their bills. Those ratepayers must come forward, or we will prosecute them. We have the records."

He added that the council was moving to digitise most of its operations to reduce human interference and limit opportunities for corruption, noting that residents would no longer need to physically visit council offices for many services.

The latest revelations come just weeks after it emerged that five council employees allegedly used fake accounts to steal ZiG $500 000 from residents in just four days, further deepening concerns about financial controls and accountability at the City of Harare.