HARARE - Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara “Officials from local authorities are pocketing over US13 000 per month. I know at Zesa some get as much as US$10 000 monthly. Therefore the bulk of the money paid by rate payers goes to paying salaries while service delivery remains poor,” he said.
Mutambara heads the ministerial committee that is currently investigating the pricing of services. That committee has recommended that parastatals should reduce the salaries of their workers.
“To this effect we have directed all service providers to reduce the huge salaries they award their workers at the expense of ordinary ratepayers,” said Prof Mutambara.
The billing systems by service providers were inflated and did not match the quality of service that they offered.
“We have noted with great concern that some of the cost for compulsory utilities, which are the cost drivers are too exorbitant. To make the situation more serious are the salaries that are being paid to their workers. In the case of the Harare City Council we discovered that 90 per cent of the revenue was being channelled to the salaries of its workers.
“To this effect we have directed them to use 30 per cent of their revenue on workers salaries and the remaining 70 per cent is to be used on service delivery,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
Post published in: News