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Luthando Mapepa
Chipinge Correspondent
CHIPINGE Town Council has been hit by staff exodus as officials leave the council for greener pastures, The Manica Post has learnt.
Recently, two senior council managers, Engineer Thokozani Gama and housing director Mr Edson Mujanga tendered their resignations and joined other local authorities.
The departure of these two senior managers left the council with four critical departments, namely town secretary, engineering, housing and treasury, with acting staffers.
Contacted for comment, the outgoing council chairperson, Councillor Lovemore Mkwapati said the local authority is in the process of recruiting a substantive town secretary.
“The council recently flighted an advert for the position of town secretary which fell vacant in 2021. We closed the applications and the council will soon be short-listing the candidates.
“After short-listing the candidates, we will come up with an interview date. After the recruitment, we hope the new town secretary will facilitate the recruitment of other heads of department who left the council,” he said.
However, residents have expressed mixed feelings over the departure of critical staff and urged the local authority to urgently recruit substantive office bearers to improve service delivery.
Mr Vrante Mahlupeko of Chipinge Resident Trust(CRT) said council should urgently recruit competent personnel to fill in the critical posts.
“The council recently recruited an engineer, but he did not stay. Following the recruitment of the engineer, the town saw an improvement in service delivery such as water reticulation.
“We hope the council will fill the vacancies soon,” he said.
Another resident, Mr Wellington Chisoro urged the council to offer competitive packages to retain critical staff.
“Our council has become a training ground for critical staff. Skilled personnel are leaving the council for greener pastures. We hope this problem will be solved soon,” he said.
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