Harare City Council allowed around US$15 million in ratepayers’ money to be wasted or quietly lost through weak controls, expired leases and non-enforcement of contracts, according to a Value for Money audit by the Auditor-General covering 2016–2020 and published in 2024.
The audit shows that the council was owed ZWL$396 million (about US$15 million at the official interbank rate) in unpaid rentals from commercial, industrial and residential properties.
Yet council could not produce reliable records showing what had been billed, collected or actively pursued — a failure that turned public assets into revenue liabilities rather than income streams.
Council properties were leased without properly renewed agreements, inspections were not conducted for years, and some tenants continued occupying municipal land and buildings without valid contracts or updated rentals.
At the same time, billboards were erected and operated without clear contracts or verifiable proof of payment, leaving the city unable to account for income it was legally entitled to receive.
The Auditor-General stops short of alleging theft. Instead, the report documents something more corrosive: a system that allows money to leak away without resistance.
Lease renewal periods were not enforced, arrears were not systematically followed up, and penalties for non-payment were rarely applied — effectively normalising non-collection.
This pattern was not confined to Harare. The audit found that several other local authorities operated without complete lease registers, failed to reconcile rental income to billing systems, and allowed tenants to remain in occupation long after agreements had lapsed. In some cases, councils could not even state how much they were owed.
The result, the Auditor-General warns, is a quiet erosion of public revenue: money not stolen, but lost through neglect — and ultimately borne by ratepayers through poorer services and decaying infrastructure.
Management response: Harare City Council said it was cleaning up lease registers, decentralising lease management to district offices and regularising billboard contracts, citing enforcement challenges and cash-flow constraints.
The Auditor-General’s reply is blunt. Economic conditions and administrative inconvenience, the report notes, do not suspend legal duties.
Councils remain responsible for safeguarding ratepayers’ funds — whether money is lost through misconduct or simply allowed to drain away.
