Online Reporter
Diana Nherera
HARARE Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume says the City of Harare has now signed up the Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP) provided by BIQ.
He told a recent full council that the paperwork for the system has been signed by the relevant offices.
“We were taken to court. This was one of the issues on which a lot of letters were written to me by the minister to make sure that the 10-point plan by the President, which states that every municipality must have a functional ERP, is fulfilled,” he said.
“And it was a recommendation of the Parliamentary committee, the auditor general that we must return the ERP firstly, to search for the $200 million which is continuously being talked about and also to have a functional system.
“So the previous or current service provider took us to court to stop us engaging. We had to engage this new ERP using the ministry and council procurement.
“So we are happy that the long-running saga of not having an ERP, which has been creating problems with our fiscalisation and many other problems has now come to an end.”
Cllr Mafume said a lot of people attacked him for insisting on council having an ERP system.
“History has vindicated me and history has been kind in that it has vindicated me while I am here,” he said.
Cllr Mafume said the habit of council officials working with people to take council to court on issues unrelated at their own personal issues with the organization must stop.
“People get confidential documents which they attach, you can clearly see that this affidavit has been assisted from within, going against the council.
“Earlier we were talking about people suing the very same council for money must stop because we can’t be an organization that fights itself from within.
“Because someone takes action against their own organisation without merit and loses all the time and you will be dragging us to the courts and we fail to make progress and our names being dragged into disrepute yet we are being fought from within.
“So it must stop and we must implement this ERP and our departments must digitalize,” he said.
