Harare faces financial crisis

Zim Now Writer

Harare City Council have been hit by tough financial times, making it difficult to its employees.

Town clerk, Hosea Chisango, yesterday launched a revenue collection, generation maximisation and cost containment brainstorming meeting with district officers in the capital, in an effort to find solutions to the festering problem.

“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. l want to encourage all of you to communicate openly where we are brainstorming on how to improve revenue collection. This will build a culture of trust and collaboration, which is essential for achieving our goals,” he said.

The City of Harare is encountering a severe shortage of water, a development that has put people’s health at risk.

“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.

The new Harare mayor, Ian Makone, who was recently, said corruption, among other things, was ruining 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,” the mayor said.