Govt demands senior councils’ salary details

senior management and councillors.
This follows allegations that Gweru had awarded hefty loans of up to US$70 000 to senior officials.
The local authorities have been flouting Government regulations.
Rural district councils that are battling to collect enough revenue and improve service deliveries have also been accused of flouting these regulations.
Government last year pegged salaries for town clerks at US$5 500 for the highest paid and US$1 500 for the least paid. Local Government, Rural and Urban Development secretary Mr Killian Mpingo, recently wrote to the councils requesting information on monthly revenue collections and expenditure on salaries.
He also requested information on allowances and loan advances and expenditure on capital projects as from October 2010 to July 2011.
Mr Mpingo demanded separate schedules of salaries and allowances of town clerks and all heads of departments for the same period. The schedule should include loan advances. He also requested for the amounts paid out to councillors from October last year to July this year.
According to the latest figures, Harare town clerk will be getting the highest amount and local boards such as Hwange, Epworth, Chirundu, Lupane and Mvurwi getting the least. But to supplement their salaries, some councils give unapproved allowances and benefits such as staff loans.
Government recently outlawed some benefits that had almost become traditional with local authorities and restricted the benefits outside salaries to only cellphone, motor vehicle for specific grades, housing and entertainment. But most council defied the directive and chose to award their senior managers and councillors hefty loans that are not Government sanctioned.
The defiance has prompted the Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Ministry to issue a circular to all local authorities to remind them to adhere to the directive and to submit schedules of salaries for senior managers, middle and junior officers.
Gweru town clerk Mr Daniel Matawu, last week denied that he and his senior officials had accessed the huge loans when not enough funds were being channeled towards service delivery.
“It was just a proposal from one of our meetings but with the noise that the matter has generated, we do not think it would be possible to get the loans. If we get the money we would advance the loan to officials but for the mean time there is nothing like that,” he said.
But sources at the council are adamant the loans were given out.
“The issue has caused much disgruntlement at council. The resolution to give the loans was passed on August 2 after the matter had raised a lot of dust on July 25. Workers are not happy at all,” he said.