Local Authorities Hurdles in Collecting Revenue from SMES: Case of City of Harare · Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author

Nekati, Chiedza. S

Title

Local Authorities Hurdles in Collecting Revenue from SMES: Case of City of Harare

Abstract

The study seeks to establish Local Authorities Hurdles in Collecting Revenue from SMEs:
Case of City of Harare. The viability and sustainability of local authorities as well as the kind
of services they offer to the community depend heavily on adequate local income. The financial
problem seems to be a result of the failure of City of Harare to effectively collect revenue from
SMEs, failure to identify new strategies as well as non-compliant by SMEs. This hampers the
council’s activities. The objectives of the study were the following: To establish the factors
affecting revenue collection from SMEs by City of Harare and to identify potential issues faced
by SMEs preventing them from paying rentals. In addition, the research seeks to suggest
solutions meant to improve revenue collection. The researcher utilized a descriptive study
design. This was utilized because the researcher was really interested in the current situation
of the subject. All Municipalities and Local Boards were included in the study's population.
The researcher utilized the example of Harare City to illustrate that it was possible to include
each company in the study. A standard questionnaire was utilized in the study to gather
information from participants who were involved in the problems being investigated. To gather
the respondents, the stratified sampling and purposive sampling approaches were used, 23
people that responded made up the sample. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were
used to collect the data. The data gathered was analyzed descriptively using SPSS software.
The researcher concludes that political meddling, bylaws and reluctance of SMEs are some of
the factors that hinder revenue collection. According to the research, some SMEs are unaware
of their duty to pay their rentals. The findings indicate that instances of corruption at City of
Harare are high, so collected revenue is not submitted to the proper office. The researcher
recommends that, there is a need to raise public understanding of property rates at the district,
municipal, and city levels. The researcher also established that COH should improve the
infrastructure in which these SMEs operate in, launch awareness campaigns, considering
enforcement as well as improve its service delivery standards in order to boost income from
SMEs. It was determined that City of Harare is failing to collect much of its revenue and
therefore it must promptly evaluate and implement the offered measures in order to increase
its revenue collection.

Date

2023

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Local Authorities

Collecting Revenue

Supervisor

N/A