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Blessings Chidakwa
Herald Reporter
The row over City of Harare’s billing system has spilt to the High Court after a potential supplier filed an urgent court application to bar the council from returning to the BIQ system it abandoned in 2019.
Harare dumped the BIQ system following squabbles over fees, although the imminent return to that system was being welcomed by many.
The urgent court application has produced a temporary stay on recommissioning BIQ until the High Court can hear arguments for and against the process chosen to return to BIQ rather than choose a totally new supplier.
As it stands, council still lacks an adequate billing system which has made it difficult to have comprehensive accounts, proper billing and adequate auditing.
Harare City Council in 2019 had failed to pay for the BIQ billing system after it hiked fees from US$35 000 annually to US$75 000, in retrospect a very small sum considering the alternatives, prompting Quill Associates, the South African system developer, to terminate its services.
The local authority then made do with Sage Evolution, a system with a large client base among small and medium businesses but described as inadequate for such a large and complex entity as the City of Harare.
Harare residents associations described the changeover as inadequate, chaotic and undermining revenue collection.
The council, after facing resident criticism coupled with contractual disagreements with Sage Evolution, switched back to the BIQ billing system.
However, a recent urgent chamber application for an interim interdict concerning the ERP system for the City of Harare filed by CCG Systems PL has put the capital’s billing system in limbo once again.
In a statement addressed to then Harare acting town clerk Mr Addmore Nhekairo, the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe chief executive Mr Clever Ruswa notified the council of the interim court interdict with both Harare City Council and PRAZ being the respondents.
This means that the before any decisions on a future ERP system can be made, the High Court will first have to rule on the main case brought by CCG Systems.
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), director, Mr Rueben Akili yesterday said the fight was a thorn in the flesh for ratepayers.
“The current wrangle will delay the resolving of the chaotic and opaque billing system which the residents have been grappling with for over a decade.
In addition, residents will continue to lack confidence in the City of Harare billing thereby affecting payments,” he said.
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