Local authority managers to work on contract

Abel Zhakata Senior Reporter
ALL senior managers at local authorities are no longer employed on a permanent basis as Government moves ahead to improve service delivery using the results based management system.
In an interview on Wednesday, Manicaland Provincial Administrator, Mr Fungai Mbetsa, said it was no longer business as usual at local authorities.

He said all senior managers were now being employed on a four-year contract basis only renewable by measurement of results achieved.
“Mind you, one of the clusters of Zim-Asset is premised on results-based management and the modernization of civil service and what we are doing is precisely aligned to that.

It is no longer business as usual because we want to improve service delivery and therefore up the standards of living for both rural and urban communities. All senior managers are no longer employed on a permanent basis because their positions are critical to the day-to-day running of local authorities.

“They will be appraised annually against set goals and objectives. If they perform badly we will not renew their contracts and employ people who are determined to move the country forward. Gone are the days when we used to have lazy managers who did nothing but stayed in positions until retirement age. This is basically what is happening in private companies and as Government we need to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the way our local authorities are being run by making senior managers answerable to their shortcomings,” he said.

Mayors have not been spared either.
“At the beginning of the year, city mayors and their town clerks signed performance contracts from which they will be assessed on what they would have achieved.

“All this is done to ensure that service delivery is improved. Those found wanting will be axed,” he said.
Mr Mbetsa said his office was currently holding workshops with senior managers at local authorities in the province to sensitise them on the new dispensation.

“These are seven-day workshops whereby on the first day we will have councillors and senior managers, while the remaining six days will cater for management staff from deputy heads of departments up to the chief executive officer. The district administrator is also included.

“Our focus is to enable councils to come up with their own strategic plans their visions, and missions, and thereby come up with an action plan to achieve what they desire in terms of service delivery.

“We want to refocus staff and management so that they concentrate on results in the achievement of their mandate as local authorities.
“So far we have trained five local authorities — Mutare Rural, Makoni, Mutasa, Buhera and Chipinge — and we are now on Chimanimani. After these rural authorities we are moving into towns and cities.

“We don’t want to ambush people at the end of the year and that is why we are reminding them of what is expected of them,” said Mr Mbetsa.