By Correspondent
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has castigated the current system at Harare Council which he says lacks basic fundamentals which would enable it to deliver results.
Addressing the Human Resources and General Purpose Committee, Mafume said Council is currently plagued by many vices such as corruption and inefficiency which leaves a lot to desire.
“I had a meeting with CABS and they said when you lost your ERP your revenues dropped by 25%.
“They said they cannot understand up to this day why we let-off our ERP.
“I have always maintained that you cannot run an operation as big as Council without a system.
“We cannot run it manually as we used to do for many reasons; we are corrupt we are inefficient, we are tribalistic, cannibalistic and selfish.
“So things no longer work as they used to do. In the past we used to know certain people have been in their positions for long and will do things that are in the best interest of that department.
“Today there is no order; people are (corruptly profiteering from their departments),” he added.
No Internet, No Connectivity
Mafume added that standards are so poor at Council that its offices don’t even have internet.
This has led to the passing of default judgements in courts where Council has lost thousands of dollars.
This has drawn the ire of Mafume.
“The need for a system is going to become a disciplinary issue for some of the people, especially the issue of internet and connectivity.
“We currently have four default judgements. One of the default judgements is for US$119 000.
“Some lawyers and Court officials are sending me messages on WhatsApp telling me how they are pained by how we are losing cases because we are not defending them since Council isn’t appearing on the system.
“The Council Legal Department cannot log in to deal with these cases because there is not internet.
“How is that even possible?
Harare has been struggling to deliver proper services for the millions of its residents and this has created pressure for the opposition which controls the local authority.
However, it has also accused central government of sabotaging it by unilaterally interfering with business at Town House.