happiness Chikwanha
Online Reporter
HARARE residents have called on city fathers to rationalise the salaries and allowances of its management.
This is a move aimed at freeing the council of the unnecessary financial burden towards payment of hefty exit packages.
Harare City Council Town Clerk, Engineer Hosiah Chisango, is expecting a hefty package after parting ways with the local last week.
A Commission of Inquiry investigating City of Harare operations discovered that the local authority was spending a staggering US$500 000 per month on salaries for executives amid poor service delivery.
The Town Clerk was reported to be earning US$27 000, which can increase to US$30 000 with additional perks while the least-paid executive earns US$15 000 per month.
The Commission heard that the salaries and perks do not have the approval of the Local Government Board.
Mayor Jacob Mafume last week said a special negotiation team has been assembled to determine Chisango’s exit package.
Harare Residents Trust (HRT) coordinator, Precious Shumba, said there was a need for council to reconfigure or cut the ‘abnormal’ salaries and allowances to be in sync with council revenues.
“They all do not deserve their current remuneration,” Shumba said.
“There is absolutely nothing special about the council workers, especially the managers who have this overinflated opinion about the value that they bring to the ratepayers in Harare.
“They have let down the residents of Harare by being arrogant, incompetent and parasitic in their attitude towards serious issues like water and sanitation, billing system chaos, procurement and land corruption.”
Shumba said the council must also do away with vehicle loan schemes and other “out of this world benefits” for executives when service delivery is deteriorating.
“Those workers who refuse salary cuts should be given the option to leave council with payouts calculated at current salaries,” Shumba said.
“This will free the council of unnecessary financial burdens towards payment of packages to workers.
“There are more competent workers out there who can deliver for Harare residents at half the current salaries being paid to the council managers.”
The city’s infrastructure continues to deteriorate, with broken sewage systems, uncollected refuse, and erratic water supplies.
Cholera is now endemic in Harare because of poor service delivery.
The city’s finances remain unaudited, with $4.5 million mysteriously disappearing from city funds.
Mafume has previously claimed that he lacks the power to stop excessive spending, citing limited authority.
The commission of Inquiry exposed serious looting and mismanagement at the municipality.
The commission was tasked with investigating reports of corruption and mismanagement within the local authority.
A report of its findings and recommendations will be submitted to the Presifent’s office for action.
Online Reporter