Commission of Inquiry: An opportunity to rebuild Harare

Precious Shumba

PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA recently established the Commission of Inquiry to investigate the financial and management operations of the City of Harare.

The commission, chaired by Justice Maphios Cheda, will run for six months, with the possibility of an additional three months.

The other commissioners are Mr Steven Chakaipa, Mr Norbert Phiri, Mrs Lucia Gladys Matibenga and Ms Khonzani Ncube, while Local Government and Public Works Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera will be the team’s secretary.

They will submit a report to the President within six months after their inquiry, but have a leeway to extent by three months.

According to Statutory Instrument 91 of 2024, the Commission of Inquiry will look into the matter of local governance by the Harare City Council from 2017 to present.

The President appointed the commission in terms of Section 2(1) of the Commissions of Inquiry Act (Chapter 10.07).

Section 278(2) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (Number 20) Act of 2013 provides for the circumstances under which chairpersons, mayors and councillors in local authorities may be removed from office besides recalls provided for in Section 129(1) (k) and Section 278 (1).

Unfortunately, the Commission of Inquiry does not include a wholesome investigation of the operations of the local authority.

However, it is clear from the appointment of the commission that the President is concerned by the magnitude of the rot at the City of Harare.

Using the route of the appointment of an independent tribunal to deal with all or some of the councillors would have made it more difficult. However, it is possible that this route was considered.

In view of these factors, it has to be noted that while the councillors and the mayor are not the subjects of the investigation, their oversight, representative and policy making roles have to be critically examined to see their impact on the overall performance of the council.

The Commission of Inquiry’s terms of reference focuses on investigating, among other things:

Financial management systems and audit compliance with the Public Finance Management Act (Chapter 22.19), and other laws;

Revenues generated through special vehicle companies and other outsourced arrangements;

Reasons behind the failure to operate an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for the Harare City Council and quantify any losses accruing as a result;

Procedures of management, sale or lease, or transfer of the local authority’s properties to private entities;

Compliance with procurement laws, inclusive of disposal of assets and compliance with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (Chapter 22.23);

Is the commission necessary?

A critical examination of the terms of reference shows that the Commission of Inquiry is necessary to bring more attention to the work of the council.

To residents, the City of Harare needs resuscitation because it has been essentially dead for a long time.

Refuse collection is non-existent in most suburbs, water is not readily available, cartels reign supreme in the council’s decision-making and policymaking, and financial leakages are deliberate.

For example, the absence of an ERP is not by accident, but a deliberate move by the key decision-makers at Town House to violate council’s financial regulations while they benefit as individuals.

The number of workshops held outside Harare even in the face of dwindling financial resources demonstrates that councillors and a few senior managers thrive in the chaos. To compensate for their inadequate monthly allowances and perceived poor remuneration, councillors and council managers deliberately create workshopping schedules that result in individuals gobbling up council resources at very little return on that investment.

Given the fact that residents, in their diversity, have been crying out for attention to their priorities from ward councillors, district officers, revenue officers, middle managers and directors, without much success, the Commission of Inquiry, therefore, becomes an ideal platform for venting and sharing substantive issues that have been abandoned or neglected.

The council’s stakeholders’ policy states that the local authority shall facilitate quarterly meetings led by the ward councillors.

Less than 10 ward councillors have genuinely engaged the residents. District officers have been running their offices with little resources, without computers and vehicles, yet they are the face of the council among the residents.

The ward councillors have no offices from where they can regularly meet residents.

Key issues for consideration

Substantive issues that residents should raise with the commission include, but not limited to, the implementation of devolution (Section 264 of the Constitution), water supplies, Pomona dumpsite deal, Borrowdale Race Course status, invasion of wetlands, land barons, public transportation system, waste management, human capital, billing system and the operations of strategic business units of the council.

The operations of the council bars are an issue for serious consideration. In the past, beer halls gave the council huge amounts of money to invest in health and education.

This may be the opportunity for Rufaro Marketing to share more about its operations.

In light of the lack of information available to the residents on several aspects of the council’s revenues and expenditures, the Commission of Inquiry might be the basis for enhanced information dissemination.

When a public institution like the City of Harare does not voluntarily share important information about its operations, as a matter of public accountability, one is bound to conclude that they have a lot to hide.

Therefore, the Commission of Inquiry will likely provide the residents of Harare, council workers and even those workers in the strategic business units with an opportunity to provide critical information that will shed more light on their revenues and projects.

I believe the Commission of Inquiry will not itself resolve challenges faced by the City of Harare. It will only confirm long-held suspicions.

As long as the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29.15) is the principal law governing urban local authorities, the same officials who have deliberately sabotaged the work of the council through extravagant and wasteful expenditures, procurement irregularities and payments for jobs not done to contracted companies will implement the findings of the Commission of Inquiry.

The implementation of devolution as provided for in the Constitution is the key to unlocking the full potential of the City of Harare and all the other local authorities in Zimbabwe by providing clear mechanisms for the interaction of the different tiers of Government.

The appointment of the Commission of Inquiry demonstrates that the Government of President Mnangagwa is concerned by the shenanigans in the Harare City Council.

Precious Shumba is the director of the Harare Residents’ Trust. Feedback: 0772869294 or [email protected]