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Andrew Muvishi Herald reporter
Harare City Council does not have the capacity to collect revenue and inspect retailers of inflammable substances such as liquid petroleum gas (LPG), as it is ill-equipped, understaffed and poorly-funded, a situation that exposes human life and property to danger in the event of fire outbreaks.
Recent minutes of the City of Harare’s audit committee indicate that the local authority’s Fire Brigade, which originates invoices for payment of inflammable licences at Rowan Martin Building, needs to be capacitated in order for it to fully discharge its mandate.
“There is a mushrooming of LPG gas selling agents in the areas within City of Harare and this can be a potential fire hazard to members of the public,” read the minutes.
“The city is failing to inspect all inflammable selling stations due to a number of constraints, which include manpower and inadequate vehicles. Out of documented potential of $850 787, an amount of $763 409 had been paid to the city; thus, $87 378 could not be collected.”
According to the minutes, council’s records do not tally with Zimbabwe Energy Authority (zera)’s register.
“There is no database in place due to lack of computerisation of inflammable invoices and other records at Fire Station,” the minutes read.
The audit committee recommended that the human resources and general purposes committee needs to ensure that the Fire Brigade is adequately supported.
“The Acting Chamber Secretary reported that the matter was already before the human resources and general purposes committee and that he had withdrawn a vehicle from Town House to the Fire Brigade.”
The audit committee also tasked the finance director to work in liaison with the information and communication technology (ICT) and planning divisions in order to automate the division’s services.
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