Remember Deketeke-Municipal Correspondent
HARARE City Council is struggling to procure two cash-in-transit (CIT) vehicles, upgrade cash vaults and install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at district offices, Councillor Kudzai Kadzombe has said.
This exposes millions of dollars in public funds to potential theft and raises concerns about the authority’s ability to safeguard revenue collected from residents.
The councillor revealed that over the first half of the year, 14 district offices were robbed. In one incident at the Mabvuku district office, over US$15 000 was lost. In July, the Greendale District Office was robbed, but council failed to disclose the amount.
Cllr Kadzombe expressed concern over recurring robberies at district offices and delays in implementing measures meant to protect council revenue and staff.
She added that council currently has only two CIT vehicles and that the Procurement department has stalled the acquisition for the past few years. The entire municipality does not have CCTV cameras at its district offices, including at Town House and Rowan Martin.
Harare has at least 26 district offices.
Speaking at the same event, Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume said the local authority could no longer afford to delay investment in security systems at its 26 district offices, warning that the continued handling of large sums of cash without adequate protection was undermining revenue collection efforts.
“How do we fail to have a system that just monitors 26 district offices?” he asked.
“Whichever way you look at the issue, upside down or downside up, it should not be a debate at a council meeting. Someone should just tell us how we are going to secure our district offices.”
Mayor Mafume said council needed to strengthen control systems through CCTV surveillance, biometric access systems and rapid response mechanisms to close loopholes that expose public funds.
“We have control systems. We have a rapid response system. So let us do that. This is not up for debate,” he said.
Mayor Mafume said it was worrying that council continued to discuss workers’ salary arrears while failing to adequately protect revenue collected from residents.
“We have spoken about outstanding salaries for employees, but in the same instance we are not protecting the revenue that is coming from the residents,” he said.
The proposed procurement of two CIT vehicles is expected to reduce the movement of cash through less secure arrangements and minimise exposure to criminal activity.
Mayor Mafume said the authority should have introduced modern technologies such as biometric systems at its facilities by now.
“We should be able to build our biometrics by now. These are being installed at primary schools, and we are a whole council,” he said.
“I am beginning to believe that the inefficiency that we are encountering in council is council-driven. The council must start looking for the big leader of the cartels of inefficiency and uproot it.
“These technologies are now ubiquitous. Even simple systems can improve the way we operate and protect our resources.”
The delays in procuring CIT vehicles and upgrading security systems come at a time when Harare City Council is seeking to improve revenue collection and plug leakages that continue to affect service delivery.
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