Mafume Blasts Council Over Massive Billboard Revenue Losses

Takudzwa Karowangoro 

Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has strongly criticised city officials and councillors, saying the City of Harare is losing a lot of money because billboards are not being properly managed.

During a council meeting, Mafume asked why the finance department and some committees keep rejecting plans to introduce a proper billboard management system. He said some officials are protecting corrupt deals that benefit private companies while the city receives almost nothing.

“At Rufaro Stadium, the company charges about US$2,000 per billboard each month, but the City of Harare only gets US$80 per billboard,” he said.

Mafume called this “facilitating fraud” and said councillors must understand what they are rejecting.

He also revealed that the city does not even know how many billboards exist in Harare.

“There is no system. No one knows how many billboards we have. Advertising is a major source of revenue worldwide for football teams, cities, and companies, and Harare should also benefit from it. But because of poor management, the city is losing millions of dollars every year,” Mayor Mafume stated.

He explained that just one stadium can earn up to US$500,000 a month from advertising alone, but Harare is getting almost nothing.

Mafume ordered the responsible committee to be reconstituted and to restart negotiations to protect the city’s revenue.

He warned that the council cannot continue rejecting plans without proper reasons and said some people are using reports to block progress.