Council writes off $2m adverts debt

Innocent Ruwende Municipal Reporter

Lack of proper records and sound billboard administration has cost council revenue after the city was forced to write off more than $2 million as revenue leaks continue to haunt the financially hamstrung council.The city’s collapsed Department of Urban Planning Services, failed to register most of the advertising billboards and this was only revealed when Alliance Media (Pvt) Ltd and the city carried out an audit.

According to the recent minutes of the Finance and Development Committee, the acting finance director Mr Tendai Kwenda, requested authority to write off a sum of $2 196 864, 65 that had accrued from unregistered billboards.

“The acting finance director (Mr Kwenda), reported that the then Department of Urban Planning Services responsible for billboard administration had failed to register most of the advertising billboards.

“In 2013 when the administration was transferred to Department of Engineering Services where the anomaly was noted wherein council and Alliance Media (Pvt) Ltd agreed to conduct an audit of its advertising signs.”

“This culminated in the signing of the agreement, which spelt out the outstanding debt and the number of billboards to be billed including tariff/fees thereon.

“The agreement was a compromise position as council’s records were in shambles and could not be relied on,” reads the minutes.

Consultations were made with the city’s legal division on whether the claims against the company could be sustained given inadequate records and council was advised that it could lose the case as it had no evidence to prove its claim.

It was in that light that Mr Kwenda sought authority to write off the debt.

Council resolved to recommend that the $2 196 864,65 billed against Alliance Media be written off as bad debts as these are deemed irrecoverable.

Recently, councillors urged city officials to implement Audit Committee resolutions timeously to curb revenue leakages.

Early this year Harare gave landlords and property managers an ultimatum to regularise their billboards after unregistered advertising boards mushroomed across the city.

“The City of Harare advises that according to the Harare (Control of Advertising Signs) By-Laws, Statutory Instrument 99 of 2015, you are permitted to erect six billboards on the following properties — commercial, industrial and institutional. Council permits a maximum of three billboards within each property depending on property size,” the notice read.

“Of late, there has been an increase (of billboards) in school yards and church premises without council approval.

“Be advised that council regulates these and you are, therefore, urged to seek approval before erecting advertising signs.”

The city said failure to regularise would result in council pulling down the billboards.