HARARE City Council is struggling to procure necessities for its operations following the devaluation of the ZWG and this has further strained service delivery in the capital.
While the City Council generates revenue through rates collected from the residents in local currency it is struggling to procure fuel which is purchased in the US$.
Recently, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe devalued the local currency by 44%, leaving the council crying foul.
According to Mayor Jacob Mafume, the council is failing to collect refuse from households as it cannot procure fuel using ZWG.
"We have two-pronged problems. One of the problems is that we were all along, when the ZiG and US$ rates were close, getting fuel was easy because some of our suppliers were agreeing to be paid in ZiG. These suppliers fell off one by one.
"As fate would have it, people are dumping ZiG at the Council. So we had ZiG but we could not buy fuel."
However, councillors challenged the city council to put its priorities in order with Denford Ngadziore castigating the senior officials of self-aggrandizement at the expense of service delivery.
"We have one challenge that is priorities. I have never seen one official from the town clerk, director who says I do not have fuel. Their allocation is always available. Fuel to do with service delivery should be high on the priority lists with officials down the ladder," said Ngadziore.
The beleaguered City of Harare is under scrutiny with allegations of poor management and corruption by officials as hindering service delivery.
The Mafume-led Council is dogged by allegations of senior officials involved in extravagant expenditure when the city continues to deteriorate.
Harare Ward 27 councillor Womberaiishe Nhende said the council should introspect.
"The nexus of our challenges is hinged on the inability of our operations to go towards efficiency. It is an issue of supply and demand matrix. We need to align ourselves in terms of operations towards efficiency. We are supposed to create with our suppliers. We have a serious challenge whereby the City of Harare is tabled the highest in terms of non-payment," said Nhende.
