Money down the drain

otherwise she will surely get the wrath of the other residents.
Residents in that part of Kuwadzana 5 area are worried of the mounting garbage on the uncultivated piece of land.
The mounting garbage now emits a pungent smell that is now making life in the area uncomfortable.
Representations to the city authorities to clear the area have failed to push council to action. This is a problem not only peculiar to Harare but is reflective of the majority of local authorities in the country.
Despite their failure to provide basic services such as water and sewer reticulation and garbage collection councils continue to hog the limelight by paying their senior managers astronomical salaries and perks.
With blotted managements, councils are losing the bulk of the resources paying managers and directors while service delivery plummets.
In some instances workers have not been paid their salaries for months while money goes into the pockets of the few.
Recent revelations in Chitungwiza and Harare have increased the calls for Government to limit the salaries that paid to council management.
Residents say councils have no capacity to pay US$31 000 being given to suspended Chitungwiza town clerk Godfrey Tanyanyiwa or the US$18 000 believed to be paid to Harare Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi.
Unfortunately, the monies are paid monthly even when service delivery is suffering, councils have no water supplies and are having negative budgets.
In most cases this has meant borrowing to finance salary-induced expenditure at the expense of service delivery.
As such local authorities have failed to provide good service to residents who are paying for these services.
Though Government has set salaries to take only 30 percent of the budget with remainder going to service provision, the authorities have ignored council thereby calling for strict enforcement of the law.
The residents said it was time the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development tame council management salaries otherwise the appetite to increase salaries is never going to end.
Collins Garise of Glen Norah thinks that sanity will never prevail in the country’s local authorities if Government does not come hard on them.
“There is a strange behaviour among our local authorities to loot as much as possible from the council coffers even if it means service delivery comes to standstill.
“The salaries for senior managers in Harare and Chitungwiza do not correspond with the state of the economy and council service delivery.
“Why should they find it easy to take those thousands home when residents are going for days without water?
“This has to be tamed right at the point of awarding of contracts by council employees. Government should just ensure employees are not given contracts with extraordinary salaries. With the current crop of councillors there is no guarantee that they will block such demands for huge salaries,” said Mr Garise.
Even Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have joined to condemn awarding of such naked salaries like the ones given to Chitungwiza chief executive.
One Diasporan questioned the basis of someone awarding himself or another council employee a salary of US$31 000 per month, drawn from anorexic coffers in intensive care unit?
“There is no better word to describe such conduct. It is insanity of the highest order, greed of frightening proportions spiced with impunity. It is irresponsible to a degree beyond measure or incomprehensibility.
“Such ruthless plunder of council coffers executed without any sense of shame, without any regard for the impact and effect to the community and social services is detrimental to development.
“It is a scourge that should not be allowed to take root in our societies, nor shoot,” Cad Mash of United Kingdom.
He said the salaries were even more than those of the Head of State President Mugabe and even British Premier David Cameron. Cameron takes home approximately US$18 050 a month.
In fact, he said, Britain’s economy cannot in any way be compared with that of Chitungwiza or Harare, yet an employee of Chitungwiza is on a salary more than what Britain is offering to its premier.
Research has also revealed that as of 2009 the two highest paid councillors in the United Kingdom were Sir Robin Wales who earned US$887 per month, and Sir Steve Bullock of Lewisham US$9 844,78 per month.
Former Zimbabwe Local Government Association President Mr Jerry Gotora said the problem lies with the employers, the councillors, who have failed to perform their duties as directed by the Urban Councils Act and the Rural District Councils Act
He said the Act was clear in the way the salaries were supposed approved.
“Salaries of council employees just like anyone are decided by the employer based on estimates through the committee on human resources. It does not end there, as they have to forward it to the ministry which then forwards it to the Local Government Board for approval.
“The problem is that this process is not being followed and the employer is fully responsible. The councillors are the culprit as they are not doing their job of implementing policy. Like in any organisation if the employer is weak employees can do as they like. It is the poor quality of councillors that has seen such rot being permitted.
“On the other hand, the ratepayers should not cry, as they do not know the value of their vote. They should demand the right calibre of people to join council not the junk that is the majority of these local authorities. There is need for proper education for the electorate,” he said.
Former mayor of Harare Alderman Charles Tawengwa said the salaries being given to senior managers in council were sheer madness that need to be stopped.
“During our time such salaries would never be approved, as they had to go through the full council and was not unilateral.
“Why are salaries for senior council managers instance in Harare secret. I hear they are getting paid through a secret account.
“To her councils paying such amounts as US$31 000 is abuse of public funds. It is abuse of the ordinary resident who is struggling to survive, the one who is running away from the baton of the municipality policeman,” he said.
Alderman Tawengwa said it was time the bulk of council revenues be devoted to improving service delivery.
Harare Resident Trust spokesperson Mr Precious Shumba concurred saying the bulk of the councillor lacked the requisite knowledge to represent the people. As such managers are bullying the councillors into rubber-stamping poor decisions that are detrimental service provision.
“The councillors are not even providing feedback on their work in council to the community they represent. These councillors are neglecting their policy role and end up involved in inter-departmental issues that are not the jurisdiction. Political parties are also not being serious with the calibre of people they nominating to council elections. After what has been going on in the local authorities, the political parties should now push for amendments to the Local Government Act to ensure the right person is elected into office. This business of vendors ending up in council or Parliament should go,” he said.
He said, as Harare Residents’ Trust, was demanding that Harare disclose salaries of all senior managers as a way of dealing with abuse of public funds.
Mr Shumba said regulations should be put in place that enforces that local authority salaries be determined by ability of the councils to cater for service provision and not salaries as in the case of Harare.
“These managers should never be the people’s bosses but workers. Salaries of senior managers should thus be made public while council priorities should be public so that local authorities can be judged on them,” he said.
To stop the rot in local authorities, Mr Gotora urged the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development to dissolve all councils and to order new elections to choose people who can truly represent ratepayers.
Until when the Government moves to regulate the salaries of council workers, the public will continue to cry.