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Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent—
PLUMTREE residents are fuming over the mouth-watering salary being earned by the town’s secretary who reportedly gobbles up about a third of the monthly revenue collection. Findings by an audit team revealed that the town council’s secretary, Davis Dumezweni Luthe, is earning $17,000 a month inclusive of his basic salary and monthly benefits.
The town council’s financial statements have shown that the local authority records about $60,000 in monthly revenue, meaning Luthe takes home almost a third of that amount.
Councillors from the town also expressed shock at the findings and blamed the local authority for feeding them with false salary scales.
Plumtree Town Council Chairman Paulos Hobane said: “We’re equally shocked as councillors that the town secretary is earning so much. It’s news to us and we’re carrying out our own investigations to clarify this.
“The town secretary is out of the country at the moment and when he comes back we’ll be expecting him to explain his salary.”
The council has been struggling to pay the rest of its workers.
A number of residents have threatened to stop paying bills over the issue.
“Luthe has always been complaining during meetings that we’re not up to date with our payments yet all the money we pay seems to be going towards his salary. He has always attributed poor service delivery to unpaid rates which is all a lie,” said resident Hellen Moyo of the ZBS area.
“The reason why we’ve poor service delivery is because he’s pocketing the bulk of the money. As we speak, we’re facing severe water shedding; our suburbs don’t have proper roads and the refuse collection service is not effective,.
“We stay up to three weeks without having our refuse collected yet we’re paying rates. There’s no use in making payments anyway because our money is being diverted.
“I’ll not be making any payments to the town council until Luthe comes clean on this issue.”
Meanwhile, Bulawayo Town Clerk Middleton Nyoni has clarified that he earns a monthly salary of $9,439.19 of which $5,182 is basic pay with the remainder being allowances.
A schedule released by the government on Tuesday had indicated that he earns a total of $11,379.
The acting Victoria Falls town clerk Philip Ndlovu is taking home a total of $7,352 per month, Mayor Sifiso Mpofu has said.
In an interview yesterday, Mpofu said Ndlovu’s basic salary was $3,534 and allowances were adding up to $3,818.
“The acting town clerk is not getting the figures which came out in the press some days ago. He is getting $7,352 per month. Basic salary is $3,534 and allowances add up to $3, 818,” he said.
He said the figures released by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa were not entirely accurate.
The municipality, meanwhile, collects about $500,000 per month from rate payers.
It is owed $5,8 million by ratepayers and owes $5,3 million mainly to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa), Zesa, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) among other utilities.
Last year, the municipality wrote off $3,6milion owed by residents as debt relief following an order from the government.
An official from Beitbridge Town Council, a Muleya, also telephoned Chronicle to say the late Town Secretary Dr Sipho Singo did not earn $15,210 but got paid about $8,000 in basic salary and allowances – creating further confusion over Chinamasa’s salary schedule.
Online Reporter