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Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Sunday News Reporter
MATOBO Rural District Council in Matabeleland South Province, which has not paid its workers for nine months, has reportedly offered the workers housing stands in lieu of outstanding salaries.
Workers at the local authority have gone for nine months without receiving their salaries as their employer is grappling with cash flow challenges.
Matobo RDC, like most local authorities in the country is blighted with financial woes owing to non-payment of rates by residents and business.
Employees who spoke to Sunday News last week on condition of anonymity revealed that their bosses had proposed to give them housing stands at Maphisa Growth Point to offset the salary debt.
The workers, however, said they had turned down the offer and are demanding cash payment, as some of them already have housing stands in the area.
“There is no point of me having two housing stands when I’m failing to feed my family, buy clothes and other such basic things. They made the proposal and we rejected it because it doesn’t serve our interests but theirs,” said an employee who preferred anonymity.
According to the workers they are each owed an average of $4 000 and the local authority had offered them medium density housing stands which cost $7 000.
“The deal was that we would pay the difference over a negotiated period and we rejected that. It is council that owes us, why then would they want to turn the tables and plunge us into debt by making such an offer. The offer looks all glossy at first glance but it doesn’t serve our interests as workers,” added another employee.
The employees said the non-payment of their salaries was compromising service delivery as the majority of the workers were now engaging in other survival activities during working hours, while some have resorted to taking bribes for survival.
“Council police officers are no longer doing their work. Instead of them fining people they find on the wrong side of council by-laws they see it better to take bribes and let the culprits go,” said a source.
Matobo RDC chief executive officer Mr Elvis Sibanda acknowledged that the local authority had gone for a sustained period without paying its employees, a situation he attributed to cash flow challenges.
Mr Sibanda, however, refuted claims that council had offered workers housing stands in lieu of outstanding salaries but said that the local authority was open for discussions on that matter.
“We have not gone to that extent, but if it comes as a proposal from the workers we will consider it. It is something that we may need to discuss with the relevant committees first.
“What we have been doing so far to offset what we owe employees is that we have been paying them in batches every week to try and cushion them. Every week we pay something to a group of six or so employees,” he said.
Mr Sibanda said failure by the local authority to pay employees was as a result of cash flow challenges caused by non-payment of rates by residents and businesses in the district. Matobo RDC is owed $99 000 by residents, $35 000 by businesses in unpaid rates and $262 000 by mining concerns in unpaid mining levies.
“We have been facing cash flow challenges especially after we handed over water reticulation to Zinwa. Residents and businesses have been reluctant to pay rates. The other issue is of miners who have also been reluctant to pay levies arguing that they were too high. This has resulted in our revenue flows being suppressed to the extent of failing to pay our workers,” he said.
Mr Sibanda said the local authority had employed a number of measures which include engaging debt collectors and offering payment plans to ratepayers, to recover what it is owed.
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