Shambolic accounts haunt city

HARARE City Council has been failing to properly account for its revenues over the past four years due to a manual accounting system prone to human error and manipulation.

In 2019, the local authority parted ways with service provider Quill Associates, whose BIQ system had been in use for over a decade.

Tensions are simmering within council, as some are pushing for a South African company, Munsoft, to supply new software at US$57 million for five years, while others want to revert to the BIQ system, which costs US$75 000 monthly.

Last month, Harare City Council’s IT manager Mr Samson Madzokere was suspended over controversies surrounding the proposed procurement of the new software.

Council decided to ditch the BIQ software system ostensibly because it was failing to support other automated modules in revenue collection.

After abandoning BIQ, council adopted another software system called SAGE, which, however, was not fit for purpose.

The Auditor-General, Mrs Mildred Chiri, recommended that council reverts to the BIQ system.

Harare mayor Jacob Mafume confirmed that part of management at Town House was pushing for the US$57 million Munsoft deal.

“IT people said we could do a supplementary budget and that would mean residents would fork out over US$10 million per year for the software. We said, as council, we do not have that kind of money,” he said.

Bulawayo City Council and the Zimbabwe

National Water Authority are reportedly some of the institutions currently using the BIQ system.

According to mayor Mafume, after the local authority decided against the Munsoft deal, some council managers went to negotiate the deal downwards to US$47 million, which raised eyebrows.

“What kind of tendering is that? What about others who had tendered?

‘‘Why are you not opening envelopes of the other four (applicants) to compare and contrast? PRAZ (Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe) agreed with the council to cancel that tender process, and the committee chaired by the Attorney-General also agreed to the same,” he said.

The mayor believes some managers deliberately reverted to the manual system to embezzle funds.

“Money can be diverted to other people’s accounts, bills altered and money can be erased from the manual system because it is prone to abuse,” he said.

“We believe that their refusal to allow for quick engagement of the previous contractor is simply because they want the lacuna (gap) to continue. Since 2019 up to now, we have a dysfunctional system and millions of dollars may have gone into a financial black hole.”

Contacted for comment, Mr Madzokere said he was barred from talking to the media as part of conditions tied to his suspension.

Zimbabwe National Organisation of Associations and Residents Trusts chairperson Mr Shepherd Chikomba said they have since written to the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to flag the accounting system at Town House.