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LOCAL Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo waded into a storm over the weekend when he reinstated Harare town clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi who had been suspended by Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni for refusing to release the city’s salary schedule amid reports 18 city bosses were gobbling over US$500 000 in salaries every month at a time service delivery has plummeted to dismal levels.
It is not our intention to sit in judgement over the trio or debate the provisions of the Urban Councils Act.
Ours is the rational man’s test. How the man in the street sees developments at Town House in light of the ongoing expose of monster salaries that were being earned by some bosses in parastatals and state enterprises.
In light of the publication of a shocking salary schedule by some sections of the media, and public outrage over the same; no matter what the Urban Councils Act says, it was not judicious for Minister Chombo to be seen to be trying to protect the town clerk from public scrutiny.
All that Dr Mahachi needed to do was avail the salary schedule and prove to residents and ratepayers that their money was not being consumed at the expense of service delivery.
The general mood in the country is one of total aversion to all forms of corruption as the nation walks in step with President Mugabe’s call for zero tolerance to all forms of graft.
And how the Zanu-PF Government deals with what is coming out of state enterprises will go a long way towards not only the successful implementation of Zim-Asset but also the party’s fortunes in 2018.
In its winning election manifesto, Zanu-PF identified corruption as a major threat to achieving the goals of the people, namely putting the economy in the hands of indigenous Zimbabweans and getting it to work for the people.
This is why even the economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation that was synthesised from the manifesto, President Mugabe’s inauguration address as well as his speech during a luncheon that was hosted by the Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ministry on the occasion of the official opening of the First Session of the Eighth Parliament last year, all advocate zero tolerance to corruption.
In fact Chapter Five of the manifesto that covers ‘Threats to Winning the Goals of the People’ singles out corruption in local authorities as a major cancer.
“Of particular concern is the rampant corruption in local authorities which interface directly with the people on a daily basis in terms of the delivery of key public services. The victims of corruption whether in the public or private sector; the professional, NGO or religious sectors are always the people.
This is why zero-tolerance of corruption has become a national priority,” reads the Zanu-PF manifesto.
As such while his intentions may have been noble, Dr Chombo’s reinstatement of Dr Mahachi without the publication of the city’s salary schedule naturally appeared to be an attempt to keep the lid on goings on at Town House.
The situation was further compounded by the general perception that Dr Chombo, as minister responsible for local authorities, was meddling in personnel issues when his brief as minister relates to guiding policy, and as such had something to hide.
We thus call on the Minister to urge the powers that be at Town House to clear the air with residents who religiously pay their dues on the back of deteriorating service delivery.
They need to know what their money is being used for.
The fight against corruption requires everyone’s support.
Online Reporter