adminLovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
THE Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing on Monday dispatched an audit team to Gweru City Council to carry out a skills audit.Council insiders said the audit was prompted by council failure to adhere to the service delivery-salary ratio with fears that there could be ghost workers at Gweru City Council.
Efforts to get comment from Local Government Minister, Dr Ignatius Chombo or his permanent secretary, Engineer George Mlilo were futile yesterday.
Government directed local authorities to channel 70 percent of revenue to service delivery with 30 percent going towards salaries but most of them are not adhering to that directive as they spend more on salaries than on service.
Gweru assistant town clerk in charge of public relations, Tapiwa Marerwa confirmed the presence of auditors but could not give details saying he was out of office.
“It is true that there are auditors who came yesterday (Monday) but I am out of town at the moment. Call me tomorrow so that I can give you full details,” he said.
Zimbabwe Council Workers Union (ZCWU) Gweru branch secretary, Kudakwashe Munengiwa confirmed that the auditors were carrying out a head count of council employees.
“It is true there are people who are carrying out an audit on council workers. They are doing a head count but we were not advised of their brief,” said Munengiwa.
Council has been failing to pay its workers on time because of cash flow challenges which have seen the local authority staggering payments.
Despite council’s incapacity to pay its workers on time it employed over 100 employees when the Hamutendi Kombayi-led council took over at town house last year.
The local authority is owed about $36 million in unpaid rates and water and other service charges.
In a move aimed at improving revenue inflows, council recently extended an olive branch to its commercial and industrial customers where it slashed debts by 50 percent to customers who settle their accounts by 31 December.
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