Council fires senior officials

Richard Masinire.
Mr Masinire is also facing dismissal on allegations of nepotism. The three, Ms Sylvia Moto, Mr Ernest Njaravani and Mr Peter Pedzisa, who were recruited in March last year were summarily dismissed without suspension or hearing.

Ms Moto and Mr Njaravani were employed as administrative officers while Mr Pedzisa was the human resources manager.
Their dismissal has attracted the attention of the Zimbabwe Urban Councils Workers’ Union (ZURCWU), which has blasted Gweru City Council for improper action.

ZURCWU secretary-general Mr Bernard Danda yesterday said the dismissals were defective in that the city did not have a registered Code of Conduct.
Mr Danda has since written to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare registering the flaws in the dismissal and appealing for a quick hearing.

“The three were not suspended from duty but only a summary dismissal resolution was passed by council.
“The workers were not arrayed before any disciplinary hearing for the 15 months they were employed by council and therefore were not given a chance to be heard as is required,” said Mr Danda.

Mr Danda said the disciplinary procedure as outlined in the Statutory Instrument 15 of 2006 was not followed “rendering the dismissal a nullity as it was shrouded in procedural irregularities”.
In a dismissal letter to Mr Pedzisa, town clerk Mr Daniel Matawu, said because Mr Masinire had been found guilty – it followed that his employment was irregular.

He said Mr Pedzisa was free to reapply for the post once advertised.
“Accordingly, you are hereby directed to stop reporting for work with immediate effect,” said Mr Matawu.

The same reasons were offered for the dismissal of Ms Moto and Mr Njaravani. The dismissals come hardly in the wake of a Government appointed probe team to investigate operations of Gweru City Council.
The move by the council has been viewed as an attempt to pre-empt the probe team’s findings, which among other things looked into the recruitment of staff.