In the morning, the fuming municipal employees waved placards denouncing the Local Government ministry and a caretaker team appointed by Minister Ignatius Chombo to run council affairs for failing to heed their grievances.
The protesters alleged the caretaker team that replaced senior management who were accused of corruption of, in turn, looting council’s financial resources.
They also complained that top Zanu (PF) officials had illegally been allocated land in the city.
The municipality is failing to pay the workers their salaries for the months of July to September this year.
Chitungwiza town clerk, George Makunde, recently confirmed that the city council was failing to pay its workers on time due to financial constraints.
“We are battling to pay salaries. The revenue we are receiving is not suffi¬cient to pay full salaries. There is apathy among ratepayers as residents are holding on to their money, arguing that they will only start paying if they notice an improve¬ment in service delivery,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from the Chitungwiza Municipality Workers’
Union Chairperson, Nyikadzino Matsikidze, were fruitless as his mobile phone went unanswered.
A workers’ committee member who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were locked in meetings with municipal management to resolve the issue of the outstanding salaries.
Over the years, Chitungwiza, like the majority of urban councils countrywide, has been rocked by repeated industrial action due to its failure to pay workers, owing to a strained financial situation.
Post published in: News