By Takunda Mandura
The Harare City Council is set to blow USD20 000 in a golf tournament which is to be held annually.
Ordinary Council Minutes of 1 October 2019 revealed that on the “on 19th September 2019, the Information and Publicity Committee recommended to Council “that it approves sponsorship for the Harare Golf Tournament which will be held annually at a total cost to Council of US$20 000.00”.
The Golf tournament will be held at the Chapman Golf Club in August each year.
The minutes noted that the tournament sparked a debate within Council as some councillors expressed outrage and called for a policy that will regulate the Council’s involvement in sporting disciplines.
According to the minutes, Cllr Makone moved a motion that the Council should consider sporting discipline as a corporate and marketing tool.
“The Town Clerk is to consider opportunities which can be derived from sporting and corporate communications as a way of increasing Council’s revenue”.
In his State of the City address for 2019, the Harare City Mayor Cllr Herbert Gomba announced that they will be dropping the Harare City football team sponsorship for next year’s PSL season since it is financially straining the local authority.
The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) Director Lorraine Musariri lambasted Council for the move and advised it to prioritize service delivery.
“CHRA does not support extravagant spending, especially considering that the Council is struggling to deliver basic social services to residents citing limited financial resources.
“We urge the Mayor to honour the promise that he made at the SOCA that the Harare City Council will prioritize service delivery above anything else”.
“The Council should do the honourable thing to prioritize service delivery and leave sports for sportsmen and women. Our economic situation calls for cost-effectiveness in spending” she added.
Source: Open Council https://tinyurl.com/ygj968rw
