adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
EFFORTS by Plumtree Town Council to clarify salary scales flopped after residents shushed their councillors and dismissed them as puppets during a recent meeting. The residents demanded on Wednesday evening to see Plumtree Town secretary Davis Dumezweni Luthe’s pay slip to prove he was earning less than the $17,000 monthly salary mentioned in a government schedule recently.
The situation worsened after Plumtree Town Council chairman Paulos Vini Hobane, told residents three quarters of the revenue made by the local authority a month went towards paying council workers.
“In February, the town council collected $95,000 and $85,000 has been spent so far. Of this amount, $62,000 went towards paying salaries in that particular month and the remaining $23,000 went towards other expenses,” he said.
Clr Hobane was responding to residents who had demanded to know the revenue collected by the local authority per month.
The town’s six councillors held a meeting with residents following reports that residents were now reluctant to pay their rates.
The meeting turned out to be a complete disaster after residents insulted their councillors for being ignorant. “You called this meeting but you are failing to respond to our questions. You are not even knowledgeable about the issues that you are deliberating before us yet you are the councillors of this town.
“How can you represent us when you are just but puppets of the town council? We want to be addressed by the people who sent you and not you. This issue is all about Luthe and his workers and they should be the ones addressing us, not you,” said a fuming resident.
The councillors tried to convince residents that Luthe earned less than $5,000.
“The purpose of this meeting is to clarify that Luthe is earning $4,782 inclusive of allowances. Some of these allowances include school fees allowances not the $17,000 as stated before,” said finance committee chair Clr Cornelius Nyathi.
This figure is however, differing from the $4,817.92 which was mentioned by council representatives who visited the Chronicle offices saying they wanted to clarify Luthe’s salary.
The residents demanded to see Luthe’s payslip.
“As far as we are concerned there is no councillor among you who is part of the works council which deliberates over council salaries. How can you tell us about salaries when you are not involved in setting salary levels or paying out the money?
“We want to see Luthe’s pay slip for the past three or so months. That is the only way to prove how much he earns. We will not take your word on this issue and as long as you will not give us tangible evidence we will never trust the local authority with our money,” said the residents.
The residents also attacked the local authority for taking too long to come clean on the contentious issue.
The councillors had to cut the meeting short after some residents walked out in protest.
Residents said they were sure Luthe is earning a high salary despite efforts by the local authority to reverse the perception.
They have described the development as the cause for poor service delivery.
Online Reporter