HARARE mayor Jacob Mafume has said council is open to public-private partnerships, arguing that the era of relying solely on municipal rates and government transfers to finance city operations is over.
Speaking at the Harare Investment Dialogue 2026, Mafume said the city was repositioning itself as it sought alternative financing models to bridge widening infrastructure gaps driven by rapid urban growth and strained municipal budgets.
He said it was no longer business as usual, adding that council convened the indaba to begin building the city to what it is meant to be.
The meeting was also attended by HCC acting town clerk Warren Chiwawa and the chairperson of council business committee, Rufaro Matsika.
Financial institutions, development finance institutions and business leaders, including Old Mutual, ZB Bank, CBZ Bank, Masimba Holdings and OXPRO, attended, alongside City of Harare entities such as the Harare Municipal Medical Aid Society and City Parking.
The dialogue also drew strong government and investment agency representation.
“My principal message today is one of firm political commitment,” he said. “The leadership of this city — across all council structures — is united. We have reached a mature, non-partisan consensus that private sector investment is not a threat to municipal governance but is essential to urban renewal.”
Mafume said urban populations were growing rapidly, hence demands on infrastructure were outpacing municipal budgets.
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To close that gap, he said Harare was moving from an administrative cost centre to an agile asset manager.
“Council is not selling assets but leveraging them through structured public-private partnerships using build-operate-transfer, build-own-operate-transfer and concession models,” Mafume said.
“For too long, many African municipalities have approached urban service delivery with outdated assumptions, relying mainly on traditional rate collection and central government transfers to sustain modern cities.
“The world has changed. Urban populations are growing rapidly, and the demands on infrastructure are outpacing the capacity of municipal budgets.”
