Mahachi firing to be confirmed

Councillors in Harare will this week meet to seek confirmation on the sacking of Town Clerk, Dr Tendai Mahachi on three months’ notice, The Sunday Mail has established. Dr Mahachi’s contract was last week terminated in line with the July 17 Supreme Court ruling which recognised common law contracts of employment.

However, the decision to dismiss Dr Mahachi is subject to confirmation by a full council which meets this week. The development comes at a time when Dr Mahachi is demanding $3 million worth of terminal benefits as a prerequisite for him to leave the local authority.Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni said council will be deliberating on the matter.

“We are meeting this week to deliberate on the issue (of Dr Mahachi’s dismissal). His matter is important but not urgent so we will deal with it at the right time,” said Mayor Manyenyeni. Harare City Council Human Resources Committee chairperson, Wellington Chikombo said business will go as usual in the absence of Dr Mahachi.

“City of Harare is not Mahachi and Mahachi is not City of Harare.

‘‘We cannot stop our duties because we need to attend to Mahachi’s issues,” he said.

Dr Mahachi was in July this year sent on forced leave by Mayor Manyenyeni on allegations of scuttling the city succession plan and not acting on a council directive to review the executives’ hefty salaries downwards.

The suspended Town Clerk brewed a shocker when he recently drew a list of lavish demands worth a whopping $3 million for the city to secure his exit.

Top on the list is $100 000 salary for every year served, a new Jeep Cherokee Overland registered in his name at the local authority’s expense and a council house located in an affluent Harare suburb.

He also demanded six months’ fuel at the city’s expense, a 6 400 square metre commercial land and six months’ worth of newspaper subscriptions, among other things. Dr Mahachi remains adamant and has instructed his lawyers to give council an ultimatum to respond to his $3 million exit package.

“We have given them reasonable time to look at our client‘s proposal and we are giving them seven days from today (last Friday) to respond and if they do not respond we will act accordingly,” said Dr Mahachi’s lawyer, Chenjerai Daitai.