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Ivan Zhakata Herald Correspondent
THE CCC-led Harare City Council is operating without a functional, transparent and accountable billing system since the termination of the BIQ billing system in March 2019.
Since then, the revenues and expenses have not been accounted for by the corruption riddled local authority resulting in abuse of office by council officials.
Council, which is now issuing monthly electronic bills, making it easier for residents to pay their bills, is facing criticism for dumping the BIQ system.
Residents believe that the BIQ system had the capacity to capture all rates items, do online procurement, asset control and salaries processing among other functions.
Recently, council tried to raise money by charging rates and services in United States dollars, including arrears, a move that was stopped by the Government much to the joy of the residents.
Speaking on behalf of the residents, Harare Residents Trust chairperson Mr Precious Shumba said it was unfortunate that the council was focusing on revenue generation without addressing the outstanding issue of the billing system.
“This demonstrates that Harare City is making decisions without research. They have misplaced priorities. Instead of investing in a functional billing system, they have largely been holding on average six unproductive workshops in expensive venues outside Harare attended by an average 50 people per workshop.
“The biggest beneficiaries have been officials and councillors. Service delivery has nearly collapsed.
“Refuse collection is almost non-existent, with garbage heaps all over open spaces, street corners, business centres and alleyways in the central business district,” Mr Shumba said.
Mr Shumba said council was pronouncing policies that were not backed up by a monitoring and control mechanism symbolised by a transparent, accountable and efficient billing system.
“Outstanding bills that were billed in local currency should be paid in the currency owed. The bills were always increased month end due to the ever changing exchange rate.
“Residents have been paying their bills, but they have never been able to clear their debts. Throughout their tenure, the councillors have dismally failed to put in place a functional billing system.
He said there was suspicion the move was deliberate and an efficient billing system would end the reign of the cartels exploiting the current loopholes.
Council spokesperson Mr Innocent Ruwende said they had a billing system called Sage.
“We have a billing system called Sage. Soon after the BIQ we moved to Sage,” Mr Ruwende said.
However, accountants and auditors have been scathing about the use of Sage, procured at a much higher cost than the abandoned BIQ. Sage is regarded as a very good accounting system for small and medium businesses and is used by a lot of them, in fact dominating that sector of the market.
Experts feel that the second largest entity in Zimbabwe after the national government needs something suitable for large entities.
Auditor General Mrs Mildred Chiri is on record calling for a return to BIQ. Any replacement should be a proper enterprise system, the sort of system routinely used by large companies upwards, and a giant concern like Harare municipality is larger than any company in Zimbabwe.
Harare City Council recognised the need for a correct replacement, except that the IT department recommended an incredibly expensive package and that had to be shot down. So the city is still using a system that is not designed for an entity with its functions and the hundreds of thousands of ratepayers on its books.
Online Reporter