Masvingo loses $12 000 monthly on car hire

Masvingo Bureau
THE cash-strapped Masvingo City Council is gobbling $12 000 monthly on hiring vehicles for use by its management and for critical services after almost its entire fleet was attached by the Messenger of Court over $3,5 million salaries owed to workers. Council, which was dominated by MDC-T councillors before the expiry of their term recently, had almost all its fleet attached by the Messenger of Court in January this year after workers obtained a High Court order compelling the city to pay them outstanding salaries dating back to 2009.

However, the fleet including the mayoral Benz, has not yet been auctioned after council appealed to the Supreme Court.
The appeal is yet to be determined.

Since then the council has been hiring vehicles for its senior managers and critical services such as refuse collection and for the water works department.

Chairperson of Masvingo City Council caretaker committee Mr James Mazvidza on Thursday said council was spending $12 000 per month to hire vehicles from the Central Mechanical Equipment Department (CMED).

“As council we had no option except to do that (hiring) because the entire vehicle fleet had been attached by the Messenger of Court and there was a need to keep council business running to avert a disaster,’’ he said.

Mr Mazvidza said they would continue hiring vehicles for the city’s day-to-day operations until a legal solution was found between council and its workers.

Council, he said, was being compelled to hire vehicles for senior managers as their conditions of service and contract of employment entitled them to have such benefits.

There are growing fears that most of the nearly 20 council vehicles that were attached and had since January been parked at the Messenger of Court’s offices in the city might waste away due to idleness.

The damage to the city’s entire vehicle fleet would also force council to end up using ratepayers’ money to procure a new fleet if a solution was not found early.

The previous MDC-T dominated council has been in the eye of a storm from ratepayers who accused it of almost grinding council operations to a halt owing to mismanagement, corruption and incompetence.