dyton mupawaenda
Blessings Chidakwa-Herald Reporter
Harare City Council risks losing its companies amid indications that the subsidiaries, including Harare Quarry and Rufaro Marketing, are registered in names of individuals, some of whom have since left the local authority.
Further, council also offered free land to individuals through verbal agreements.
City Parking, which is wholly-owned by the local authority, had its papers changed sometime last year as it was in the names of previous directors during the era of former Harare Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi.
The rot, especially at Rufaro Marketing, resulted in council spending 13 years without collecting a cent from its 130 beerhalls.
A report of the special committee on Rufaro Marketing, mandated to run the beerhalls, showed that current and former council employees were subletting the beerhalls in foreign currency, yet paying a paltry fee to council, if at all.
Speaking during a special council meeting yesterday, Mayor Jacob Mafume, conceded that the city had no control over its assets.
Mayor Mafume said they have started to regularise their firms to have the share certificates.
“There was a period where cannibalism had set-in in council and you find out that the share certificates were put in names of certain individuals who were then fired or left council for one reason or the other and it was taking time to find signatories.
“We have ordered that those papers be regularised.
“City Parking papers have since been regularised and the Quarry papers, we are looking at them for their regularisation,” he said.
Mayor Mafume said as for Rufaro Marketing, a former chief executive had basically run away with the organisation.
“We have now put in a new board and we are asking that the situation be rectified. We are confident that by the end of this month or mid next month all the share certificates will be done.”
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