The Harare City Council has introduced new business licences with security features to plug revenue leakages through use of forged documents.
Council spokesperson Leslie Gwindi said the new licence certificates were already available, adding the use of forged documents had resulted in the mushrooming of illegal retail outlets in the city.
“We have had a number of problems with businesses without licences. A lot of our own systems were not in order and we want to be as professional and efficient as we can. We are open for applications for licences for next year (2012). We start issuing licences now so that we avoid a rush come 2012.”
“A new set of licences that have sufficient security features make it impossible to create one has been designed and we are going to decongest the whole process. This will create revenue for council. As you know, licencing is one of council’s cash cows,” said Gwindi.
The city council has been hard-hit by cases of corruption and forgery with officials forging signatures and awarding fake licenses to individuals.