However, Zanu (PF) rejected these moves as the party wanted to protect its supporters from being fired as a reward for taking part in violence which saw President Robert Mugabe going for the 2008 Presidential re-run election on his own. Marondera Municipality is now paying heavily. The more than 550 workers are gobbling 80 percent of an average US$370 000 monthly revenue collections. It takes the council at least two months revenue to pay monthly salaries.
Most of the workers continue to engage in party activities during working hours. Human resource audit and eventual retrenchment of excessive baggage to council was the only way forward. Roles of a responsible local authority are to deliver quality service to the rate payer not rewarding party supporters with unavailable employment. Zanu (PF) partisan politics has come to haunt the local authority which has been struggling to pay workers, said Mayor Farai Nyandoro.
Nyandoros remarks were in response to a job action staged by Zanu (PF) council workers affiliated to the Joseph Chinotimba led labour Union, Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU). The strike which started last Tuesday was held to force council pay workers outstanding salaries which have not been paid for the past nine months.
The new director for finance devised a workable solution to outstanding wages and salaries. Given limited resources, he put in place a plan whereby every worker would get 80 percent of his salary every month without fail. The balance would be paid at a convenient time. The plan has been on track for the past six months since the new finance director came into office. As much as council would want to reward workers for their services, workers should in turn appreciate interim arrangements put in place by the finance directors office, a management member who did not want to be named told The Zimbabwean on Sunday.
The source said council had plans to retrench an average 10 workers per month to reduce the workforce to 360. It is alleged the striking workers incited residents and other council rate payers to protest against the MDC-T led council. However, council reacted swiftly and hired relief workers to maintain normalcy. The strikers chanted Zanu (PF) party slogans. The workers sang that they regretted that the town fell to MDC in March 28, 2008 elections.
This has to be reversed whatever the cost, shouted the crowd. Since the job action has been declared illegal, council should stand its ground and dismiss who ever wanted to push political agendas into local government affairs. We are fed up of this Zanu (PF) monster, said one woman in Rusike suburb. Demonstrators wanted Minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo to intervene. Chombo was expected to dissolve the MDC-T council and replace it with an unelected commission. However, sources said, since the job action had been declared illegal by the Labour Department, Chombo did not want to be involved.
Minister Chombo urged striking workers to respect laws regulating job actions. Should anyone disregard the laws, then the law should take its course, sources quoted Chombo as saying.
Meanwhile, there were reports that an army Brigadier based in Chiredzi promised to bus in party thugs from Chiredzi and back-up striking workers. He was spotted in town driving around in an open truck inscribed Chiredzi Sugar. A meeting was convened at Zanu (PF) headquarters last Monday and war veterans were asked to participate in the job action. War veterans present turned down the request unless they would be paid daily allowances. They did not join in, said a source at Zanu (PF) Provincial Headquarters.
Striking workers called on, Josiah Musuwo, to quit his job as Town Clerk. Authorities at town house said they would not address the mob, as the job action was illegal and dominated mainly by hired thugs. Participating workers were likely to face harsh disciplinary action from council. We do not entertain the confrontational approach adopted by ZFTU. The Union should take a leaf from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) which follows procedure and respects dialogue to resolve issues, said Nyandoro.
Nyandoro said his council would make presentations at the High Court and chart the way forward.
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