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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau
MUTARE City Council has taken strides to resolve legacy issues left by the previous administration that have been crippling service delivery at the local authority, chief among them bringing up to date audit reports and reducing the housing backlog.

The city fathers have not come up with audited financial reports since 2013 and could miss out on the 5 percent budget allocation for local authorities stipulated in the 2019 National Budget if they are not compliant.

There has also been a huge backlog on the housing list due to failure by the authority to service stands that were paid for more than five years ago.

Mutare City Council public relations officer Mr Spren Mutiwi said council had made headway in resolving some of the troublesome issues.

“There have been too many legacy issues at Civic Centre left by the previous administration.

“But we have come up with ways to resolve them to make sure that we restore the authority’s integrity,” he said.

He said council had come up with a roadmap to bring audited financial reports up to date, which stretch to as far back as 2014.

Mr Mutiwi said the 2014 audit report was now ready and awaiting approval while draft reports for the 2015 and 2016 financial years were now available. He said the 2017 draft report was almost ready as well.

“We have a plan to ensure that we quickly complete all the outstanding audits in line with the direction being taken by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to ensure accountability within local authorities. We anticipate that we should be compliant with the regulations by year end. We need to comply or we will miss out on certain privileges and relief from Government targeting local authorities,” he said.

He said the local authority was pinning its hopes on the appointment of a new finance director to reorganise the finance department and expedite the audit.

Mr Mutiwi said the authority had also made headway in reducing the housing backlog following the servicing of about 400 stands in Dangamvura which were paid for by beneficiaries in 2014.

“We have completed the servicing of 100 residential stands in Area 16, Dangamvura, where we have put in water and sewer infrastructure. These will be handed over to the Department of Housing Services so that they can begin allocating stands to the beneficiaries. We have also serviced 300 stands in Area 3, where water and sewer connections are 85 percent complete,” he said.