By Marshall Bwanya
Harare – Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has accused a cabal within the city council and the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) of deliberately sabotaging an investigation into the alleged misuse of $200 million.
During a parliamentary public accounts committee tour on Thursday, which included visits to Harare City Council’s (HCC), operations and subsidiaries City Parking, Harare Quarry, and Rufaro Marketing the committee discovered that the local authority lacks an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.
Committee chairperson Chalton Hwende expressed frustration at the absence of HCC’s top management to explain why the local authority had failed to implement a billing system to trace the missing funds.
Hwende revealed that incarcerated town clerk Hosiah Chisango, had previously informed parliament that there was an operational ERP system to track the missing $200 million cited in the Auditor General’s (AG) 2020 report.
Prior to discovering the lack of an ERP system, the committee had recommended that HCC engage BIQ on a short-term basis to connect the system and identify the missing funds.
“You needed to engage BIQ on a short term basis for the purposes of connecting the system, so that the Auditor General can discover what happened to the 200 million,” said Hwende.
“We were following up on that for you to show us the progress you’re making in assisting the Auditor General to find the US$200 million.
“I’m surprised there’s no ERP here. Why waste our time calling us here when you know there’s no work for us,” fumed Hwende.
In response, Mafume detailed what he claimed were deliberate efforts to obstruct the investigation.
He explained that HCC had entered into a contract with BIQ for a billing system developed by South African firm Quill Associates.
“We then entered into a contract with BIQ, and then we sent the contract as we are required by law,” said Mafume.
Mafume claimed PRAZ’s CEO, Clever Ruswa, however, refused to grant the condonation despite repeated efforts by the local authority.
“When went to seek condonation from PRAZ for the contract citing the reasons of the Auditor General, parliamentary committee, the president’s section plan and the conditional agreement to our budget by the ministry.
“Those reasons were still not good enough for Mr Ruswa who sits at the procurement board.
Mafume alleged that the cabal within the city council and PRAZ was deliberately obstructing the probe through a well orchestrated ploy.
“We believe there is a deliberate effort within our system and the system in PRAZ to prevent us from looking or complying with the dictates of the parliamentary committee, the auditor general, so its deliberate,” said Mafume.
He also revealed that the accounting officers had entered into a contract with CCG Pvt Ltd systems, which seemed to perpetuate their control over the billing system and was used to challenge BIQ’s engagement and hinder efforts to locate the missing $200 million.
HCC had previously failed to pay BIQ after fees increased from $35,000 annually to $75,000, leading Quill Associates to terminate its services.
HCC currently owes BIQ $US211,000, which the public accounts committee criticized as insignificant relative to the missing $200 million.
An HCC IT official who addressed the committee ascribed the stalled payment to BIQ to acting finance director Godfrey Kusangaya.
Following issues with BIQ, HCC adopted a new billing system, Sage Evolution, which the Harare Residents Trust (HRT) criticized as inadequate and chaotic.
HCC eventually reverted back to the BIQ system, but last week received an urgent chamber application (HCHC608/24) from CCG Pvt Ltd systems, putting the city’s billing system in jeopardy.
CCG Pvt Ltd systems then later dropped the case, challenging the condonation, and re-engaged Quill Associates Pvt Ltd to fix the City of Harare billing system.
The parliamentary public accounts committee is anticipated to continue its inquiry into the mayor’s allegations of a conspiracy obstructing the $200 million probe.
