Getting rid of municipal police will not save money

Losing a job is very painful, but bearing the brunt of management failure is traumatic. Junior employees fulfil management employees’ directives and cannot be wholly liable for company losses as no non-managerial employee has a director prefix to their duties, for example, director of civil engineering services.

There is nothing like a director of cooking services or driving services, and that is purposeful, somebody has to be in overall command while others report to them. In other words everyone, including the directors, has a boss they answer to. The perks for the jobs reflect the weight of responsibilities on one’s shoulders. So how such responsibilities and attached perks somehow transmogrify to bring ordinary workers into ownership of corporate shortcomings is inexplicable.

It is clear that all is not well in the Bulawayo City Council chambers if recent reports are anything to go by. Recently, BCC proudly commissioned vehicles and earthmoving equipment worth over US$1 million. The treasured acquisition comprised a grader, an excavator, a front end loader, five Nissan NP200 trucks and four Mazda BT50 trucks.

Construction equipment is expected to be utilised in massive development of roads and residential stands that have been on the drawing board for a long time. Crucially, the purchase of equipment is expected to reduce the council’s operational costs when compared to hiring the equipment.

Also commendable was that BCC mobilised its own resources and avoided high interest charges on loans from financiers such as the World Bank. The Director of Engineering Services, Sikhumbuzo Ncube, said, “We expect the equipment to be operational for the next 30 years which means council will not be hiring machinery to service stands or work on the roads.”

Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni, said at times council was forced to hire vehicles and machinery to provide quality services which was costly. Town clerk, Christopher Dube, emphasised that council was moving towards self-reliance as outsourcing services was proving extremely expensive.

“It is council policy now to limit outsourcing of services. Yes,we will continue outsourcing but it has become expensive. Our policy as council is to try as much as possible to have all the equipment that we require.”

Nobody in charge of his mental faculties would dispute that outsourcing services is generally expensive.

But what boggles the mind is that a week later, from the sublime to the ridiculous as it were, BCC was singing a different tune. That was the BCC we are used to. Apparently we had celebrated too early and the plaudits were undeserved and misdirected.

To the men and women who have turned esteemed council chambers into a playroom, nothing matters more than allowances. It is alleged and most likely true that some councillors are loafers and spend the whole day at City Hall getting in the way of workers there. With all due respect to vendors, grave diggers, postmen, gold panners and mshikashika drivers, it is unusual for them to be sitting in council meetings in our towns.

Obviously that leads to a lame duck committee with council management riding roughshod over councillors, most of whom have never been anywhere near National University of Science and Technology, United College of Education, Hillside Teachers’ College, Westgate Technical College, Esigodini Agriculture College, Zimbabwe School of Mines or Bulawayo Polytechnic.

None of our councillors queried why council management felt it prudent to fire council police officers and replace them with outsourced service providers. The same council leadership that a week earlier, amid euphoric scenes, had said outsourcing was expensive, was now adamant that hiring metro police services from private companies was the best way to go.

Sending vulnerable employees home with very little retrenchment packages is likely to create room for councillors and managers to award tenders to their acquaintances. Izandla ziyagezana — you scratch my back and I scratch yours for as they say one good turn deserves another. They always over-promise but overwhelmingly underperform as seen at the Basch Street Terminus, eGodini.

And to make matters worse, they are devoid of shame.

Sending whole families into extreme poverty because a few police officers are corrupt, extorting vendors and mshikashika smells like a mafia don killing a whole clan because somebody dared steal business from the don.

Grandparents, children and orphans rely on the little salaries that these security guards are sometimes paid as they are never paid on time while their bosses strut in council chambers.

Not that the metro police are saints. They speed through red robots chasing after pirate taxis, extort vendors and steal their wares. This often happens well after hours or during weekends and one wonders who authorises use of council vehicles and the fuel requisitions.

Such rogues cannot justify BCC management’s insensitivity, however. How does it make sense to outsource security services which will result in council paying more than they pay their own police.

There is no saving at all. Council management commits to closely monitor the performance of private companies yet they are failing to keep their own officers in line.

It would have made sense to outsource management services since they gobble a lot in terms of salaries, allowances and probably perks such as housing, fuel, airtime, home wifi, cars, residential, commercial and industrial stands, entertainment, golf club, cellphones, laptops, home security, chauffeur, clothing, gyms, funeral, medical, education, holidays, retention and critical areas allowance among others. Such perks are not justified at all if the managers cannot improve anything in terms of services.

Not even one of them is indispensable and they need to prove otherwise by resigning enmasse and see if there will not be replacements within hours and at lower salaries too.

Where else can the managers get the perks they are enjoying at BCC? But all they do is torment the downtrodden who earn next to nothing in the name of savings, really? If we are serious about saving, then focus must be at the top. The whole security team at BCC does not equal the pay and related perks of a single director so what savings are they referring to?

Are we expected to believe that suddenly outsourcing is no longer expensive after all. Like the Catholic trappists we are expected to take it all silently for we know that the percentage the lowly staff salaries contribute to overall costs is minuscule.

A similar situation developed at Nust recently whereby management sought to retrench mostly junior employees. The Government stepped in to stop the rot and parliament has moved to nip the three-months retrenchment notice in the bud.

BCC management must learn from Nust. If they love Bulawayo that much then they must resign and see if they will be missed at all. After all, there were managers before them and there will be capable replacements after them. Siphoning money from council bank accounts to private company accounts is not private security but public assets pillage. The private security services will cost more, where is your conscience as you strip the city that your predecessors worked so hard to build.

The likes of late housing services director Isaiah Magagula (MHSRIP) must be turning in their graves.

As for the outgoing councillors, “ladies and gentlemen” goodbye and you will not be missed for you cost our city dearly.