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as the local authority struggles to raise funds.
The city council has since alerted its customers that it will start disconnecting water supplies to customers with overdue balances on Wednesday next week, in a bid to try and force customers to honour up and pay their dues.
As at the end of November last year the local authority was owed over $80 million by consumers, with domestic debtors accounting for the bulk of the debt.
Disgruntled workers who spoke to Chronicle on condition of anonymity, said they were yet to get their December and January salaries.
The workers, whose payday is before the end of the month, said the local authority had promised to pay them next week and the salaries would be staggered according to grades.
“We have been suffering since the end of November because we did not get our salaries for December and January. When others were having fun and spending their money during the festive season, most of us were miserable because we had nowhere to go and no money to spend,” said an employee.
“We approached the management last month over the issue and they promised us that they would clear the arrears soon, but we have now entered the third month without getting any money from the council.”
Another employee appealed to the Ministry of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development to intervene, saying they have had enough from the council.
He said management had been repeatedly shifting the pay dates over the last two months.
“This management is really making us suffer. The responsible ministry should do something to improve our welfare. We have children who have to be taken care of, school fees to be paid and other important things to be done using money.
“We have been going to our respective banks to check if the council has deposited our salaries and we were shocked to find nothing. This mess has to be sorted out before we strike. Akusasebenzeki lapha. Our salaries are too low to take us to the next month and we cannot afford to be treated like this,” said the employee.
The workers complained that the management was not being sensitive to their plight, saying they could not buy the claim by the council that there was no money.
They said senior staff members were living luxurious lives yet workers, who did the “donkey work”, had nothing.
The city council’s senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, said the issue was being handled by the responsible department, but could not give further details.
“The city council is facing financial challenges like everyone else. We are aware of the issue and it is being accorded the attention it deserves,” she said, without revealing when the workers would be paid.
Last year, city council workers went on a four-day standoff that saw them temporarily downing tools, a development that adversely affected service delivery in the city.
Since 2009, when the country introduced the multi-currency system, the council has been struggling to pay salaries on time and usually has a backlog of two months.
Online Reporter