City’s recruitment of a substantive finance director pertinent: Harare Residents Trust

The Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) is alarmed and shocked at the reluctance of some powerful councillors and bureaucrats at Town House to finalise the recruitment of a substantive finance director. The process was reportedly finalised in February 2025, tabled and debated in full council, but unfortunately referred back to the Human Resources and General Purposes Committee where it has not been returned to the full council for onward transmission to the Local Government Board for the final selection process in line with the Urban Councils’ Act (Chapter 29.15).

The HRT feels the delay is turning out to be a racket involving corrupt councillors, manipulative bureaucrats and a compromised Local Government Board.

“At the same time, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, under whose purview the Local Government Board falls, has not asserted its oversight authority in pushing the City of Harare to fill up critical vacant positions. The City of Harare has been without a substantive director since 2018. The lack of progress in the recruitment of a substantive finance director has become a stumbling block to the handling of the council’s finances. Those in acting capacities have no power of their own to assert their powers and authority over other directors and councillors,” HRT said.

Despite repeated calls from ratepayers and other stakeholders, there is a complex web of deceit running the affairs of the City of Harare. The position of finance director has been advertised on two occasions, firstly in 2023, and the process was blundered and later abandoned after the Local Government Board raised critical governance issues.

The second interviews were conducted at the Crowne Plaza Monomotapa Hotel, and Dr Thompson Marufu, a Chief Director in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, attended and observed the process. The Chairperson of the Human Resources and General Purposes Committee, Councillor George Mujajati also participated in this process.

According to close sources familiar with the processes, Mayor Mafume initially refused to sign a “Paragraph 5 (C) request” to expedite the recruitment in line with government directives and Godfrey Kusangaya, the Acting Finance Director resisted and refused, until pressured, to pay for the venue of the interviews at Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The second advertisement was done on 27 October 2024, and the shortlisting of candidates took place on 17 December 2024. The interviews followed in February 2025. According to the sources at Town House, they got their top three candidates for the position of Finance Director. The Finance Department produced a report which was tabled and deliberated by the Human Resources and General Purposes Committee which proceeded to make recommendations to the 1933rd Full Council.

In that meeting, it is reported that the mayor took issue with the recruitment, claiming that he was not involved, and he was reminded that it was not his duty but that of the committee, and he forced the report to be returned to the Human Resources and General Purposes Committee where it appears to have been deliberately killed.

The mayor reportedly does not want another Finance Director before the end of the one-year contract extension he aggressively pushed for Godfrey Kusangaya, the Acting Finance Director. Given the mayor’s attitude during that meeting and considering his overbearing influence in directing council operations, there is a serious crisis unfolding at Town House as a result of the mayor allegedly assuming powers that he does not have in terms of the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29.15) and the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (Number 20) Act of 2013.

HRT said the massive financial crisis in the City of Harare accompanied by the failure to recruit a substantive finance director is deliberate and designed to facilitate the massive looting of council funds and assets through acting directors who stay in their positions at the pleasure of the thieving cartels, led by the mayor of Harare who is supposed to be the chief policymaker, although with non-executive powers and responsibilities.

In the public interest, the HRT is demanding that the Harare City Councillors and the Local Government Board finalise the recruitment of a substantive finance director to save ratepayers’ money. This should begin with Councillor George Mujajati, the Chairperson of the Human Resources and General Purposes Committee and his fellow committee members taking a firm stand to play their oversight, representative and policymaking roles without being puppets of other powerful forces that want to maximise their looting in the absence of a substantive finance director.

HRT said the tragedy with the City of Harare currently is that it is dysfunctional. The last substantive director for the City of Harare was Tendai Kwenda who stayed in that position from 2017 to 2018. He was suspended and subsequently dismissed on charges of corruption, abuse of office and financial mismanagement.

Before Kwenda became finance director, the City of Harare had appointed Justin Mandizha who had been recruited from the private sector. He was forced out of council after he successfully closed financial leakages, stopped councillors from looting council funds through sporting activities, and instituted a series of progressive reforms.

Within a short time after landing the post of substantive finance director, Mandizha faced an immediate backlash from angry councillors and bureaucrats who felt that Mandizha was removing them from the feeding trough. The fight emanated from the finance department where influential officials denied Mandizha access to critical council information and rallied other directors to refuse to cooperate with Mandizha. Within a short space of time, official communication was being given to Mandizha that he was incompetent and had failed to perform to their satisfaction, during his probation.

His probation period was extended and eventually terminated, under controversial circumstances that violated the council’s employment regulations. Mandizha challenged his dismissal and won US$ 800,000 in damages.

Since then, different managers have been appointed to act as Finance Directors of the City of Harare. Others who have previously acted as directors in the Finance Department include Livingstone Churu, now the Finance Director at Gweru City Council, Tendai Kwenda, now fired, Stanley Ndemera, a senior finance official serving time in jail for corruption and misappropriation of council funds.

The current Acting Finance Director, Kusangaya reached retirement age two years ago and has had controversial one-year contract extensions, at the pleasure of the corrupt cartel at Town House, who benefit immensely from his presence, but a huge disadvantage to ratepayers of Harare. There is evidence that financial leakages and corruption involving contractors have taken root.

Kusangaya has allegedly failed to release funds to needy council departments, causing the deterioration of service delivery. In the absence of a substantive finance director, wrong priorities in finance are being made, and ill-advised decisions are executed.

A finance director is responsible for financial management and advisory services, financial reporting, mobilizing financial resources, and coordination of financial plan that aligns with the council’s strategy. The director is also responsible for the coordination and facilitation of revenue generation and collection across the council’s departments. The failure of the City of Harare to appoint a substantive finance director has resulted in the council losing millions of dollars in revenues through loopholes being deliberately created by people conniving with bureaucrats in procurement and corrupt councillors.

Payments are reportedly being made without due diligence. The City of Harare has lost millions of USD after making payments to companies propped up by different councilors and directors, even before they delivered the paid-for goods and services.

Recommendations

• To address this rot, the Harare Residents’ Trust urges the government to intervene on behalf of Harare residents and whip the City of Harare to recruit a finance director without any further delays.
• The mayor and the chairperson of the Human Resources and General Purposes Committee should be investigated for their role in the recruitment process of the Finance Director.
• The report that was generated by the Human Resources and General Purposes in February 2025 and tabled in the 1933rd Full Council meeting should be presented to the Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the City of Harare chaired by Justice Maphios Cheda.
• All the deals and payments made under the current Acting Finance Director, Godfrey Kusangaya, should be audited for possible corruption and violation of procurement regulations.
• The Commission of Inquiry led by Justice Cheda should assign officials to closely monitor how council committees, especially the Finance and Development, Human Resources and General Purposes Committee, Sports, and the Education, Health, Housing, Licensing and Community Services are making decisions, and the role of the mayor in these committees.