admin
Temba Dube Senior Reporter
OUTGOING Bulawayo councillors are demanding exit packages that include among other things, vehicles for the former mayor Mr Thaba Moyo and his deputy Mr Amen Mpofu. Council officials yesterday said Dr Chombo was likely to respond to the councillors’ request by the end of this week.
“It was proposed that the former mayor Mr Moyo and his deputy Mr Mpofu should be given their official vehicles as exit packages. The rest of the former councillors want laptops that have been causing a storm in council,” said the official.
The former mayor’s vehicle, a luxury Chrysler 2.0l CRO Dodge Journey, was bought under controversial circumstances in 2010.
Council bought it for $65 000, a price that was said to be up to $30 000 more than the normal price.
When contacted yesterday, Mr Moyo declined to comment on the issue.
The former deputy mayor, Mr Amen Mpofu however said he wanted to be given the Mazda BT50 twin cab that he has been using.
“I think it is a very good thing for the former mayor to get the vehicle. In fact, I think it is council tradition. Former mayor Japhet Ndabeni Ncube also got the car he was using when he left office. However, I feel I should also get the vehicle I was using because I used it for almost five years,” said Mr Mpofu.
Mr Ndabeni Ncube was an executive mayor while Mr Moyo was a ceremonial mayor.
Mr Mpofu said he had not seen the proposed list of exit packages but insisted that he wanted the vehicle he has been using.
“I should get the vehicle, but at the end of the day, if I do not get it I will not mind. I did not come to council with anything, so I would not mind leaving without anything,” said Mr Mpofu.
The rest of the former councillors, including Mr Moyo reportedly benefited from the Government concession that allowed them to buy residential stands at a 35 percent discount.
One of the outgoing councillors complained that Mr Moyo had been given the best deal.
“We are all former councillors, including the former mayor. When he was in office, he used to go on numerous all-expenses paid trips with allowances of up to $500. Now he gets the expensive car and all we are likely to get are laptops. This is unfair,” said the outgoing councillor.
The former councillor said the Dodge was bought for the mayor a few months before a Mazda BT50 vehicle had been bought for him.
“There was no need for the vehicle as the mayor’s pool already had a ceremonial vintage black Rolls Royce, a Toyota Venture, a Nissan Pathfinder, a Prado and a Peugeot 504 sedan.
“I am bitter over the issue. We should at least have been exempted from paying rates for the rest of our lives,” said the former councillor.
The Town Clerk, Mr Middleton Nyoni, who has been tasked with running the local authority following the dissolution of council, last week, could not be reached for comment as he was not answering his mobile phone.
At the beginning of the year, the councillors fiercely resisted moves by council executives to award themselves hefty exit packages that included getting either residential, industrial or commercial stands, up to three months salary for every year served and an exemption from paying rates and water charges.
The vehicle loans for the executives were to be written off.
In a related development, the outgoing Gweru Mayor Mr Tedious Chimombe was at the weekend given a Toyota Prado and a residential stand in Athlone low density suburb as his exit package.
Mr Chimombe also received two months allowance for every year served.
During his term in office, he also received a big residential stand in Mkoba Village 12.
Online Reporter