Harare mayor, Bernard Manyenyeni
Recent revelations by Harare Mayor, Councilor Bernard Manyenyeni over funding for Harare City Football Club vindicate our long held assertion that the club has been turned into a platform for looting of public funds by city bigwigs.
As Mayor Manyenyeni (who quit as the club’s patron in March 2017) rightly put it, funding for the Harare City Football Club as well as revenue from the sale or acquisition of players is shrouded in secrecy.
There are however revelations that Harare City Football Club is being funded to the tune of more than $2 million annually although information on how the money is being spent remains a top secret.
In as much as we support sports development, CHRA believes that sports cannot be allowed to take precedence over effective service delivery especially at a time residents are dying of diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
It is shocking that a patron of a community football club, in this case Harare City Football Club, would resign over lack of transparency in handling of finances as well as the fact that the Harare City Council is failing to set its priorities right by allocating obscene amounts to the team at a time 25 out of 47 of the city’s refuse collection trucks are down.
As CHRA, we demand accountability and transparency and above that, we implore the Harare City Council to prioritize effective service delivery and prevent needless loss of lives arising from diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
In line with our objective of promoting a transparent and accountable leadership, we demand a forensic audit for Harare City Football Club, failure of which we would mobilize residents to act and stop the continued plunder of public funds at Harare City Council.
Mayor Manyenyeni has revealed that a forensic audit would possibly embarrass council and for us, the Mayor’s revelations are indeed a pointer to the deep routed corruption at Harare City Football Club.
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