By Correspondent
Harare City Council continues losing money as the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system will only be functional in 2026.
The continued vulnerability of HCC was made more explicit with revelations that some employees stole over ZiG500 000 within four days.
The employees used fake “super user” accounts to steal over ZiG50 000 from Council accounts.
Mayor Jacob Mafume said the situation now required urgent work to avoid further losses.
“It has been brought to my attention that there are people with ‘super user’ access, who are entering and tampering with our systems.
“I heard that in a space of four days, ZiG 500 000 has been taken from about 40 client accounts or more.
Mafume said the criminal act is directly a result of Council lacking an ERP system.
“I always say we need a robust ERP because money is being stolen every day.
“You need to work fast because if ZiG500 000 has been looted in 4 days, we are losing a lot of money every month.
“We will follow each and every account that has been tampered with by these individuals.
Role of ERP
An ERP system is designed to streamline essential business operations, including finance, human resources, procurement, and revenue collection.
Without such a system in place, the council has faced disorganised billing processes and inefficient revenue collection.
However, Harare has been operating without one for years only acquiring it in 2025.
The new ERP system will however only be available for use beginning in 2026.
Suspended Town Clerk Hosiah Chisango told the Commission of Inquiry into Harare that the city could be losing over $70 million annually due to the absence of a modern ERP financial system.
This means that the city loses nearly US$5 million per month which translates to about US$200 000 daily.
This estimate is based on the assumption that with a functional system, the city would collect 75 percent of its revenue, resulting in a 25 percent shortfall.
Such has been the rot at HCC that other entities under it have also been named as victims.
Harare Quarry is said to be in total disaster with no remittances to the council despite getting a loan of US$4.5 million.
