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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Masvingo city has received a major boost on its operational vehicles and road maintenance fleet after the High Court recently ordered the release of more than 100 vehicles that were attached by the Messenger of Court six years ago The vehicles included ordinary trucks together with tippers, front-end loaders and graders.

They were attached by the Messenger of Court after council workers won a $3,5 million salaries suit against Masvingo city in 2011. Since then, the vehicles were wasting away at the Messenger of Court premises in the Masvingo Industrial area.

The Messenger of Court was recently ordered to release the vehicles after the High Court rescinded an earlier ruling, ordering Masvingo city to pay its workers outstanding salaries of $3,5 million. Masvingo mayor Hubert Fidze yesterday confirmed his council had finally recovered its vehicles from the Messenger of Court.

“I can confirm that we collected all our vehicles from the Messenger of Court yesterday (Tuesday) and some of them are still running, while other vehicles require major repairs after lying idle for close to six years. Some of the vehicles are ordinary trucks and also include tippers and graders that will boost our road maintenance fleet that was severely depleted,” he said.

Mr Fidze said Masvingo City will soon make a decision on what to do with the released vehicles.

“We will soon sit down as council and get a full report of the actual state and condition of all the vehicles and only after that we will be able to make a decision on whether to maintain or dispose of them,” he said.

Mr Fidze said council was operating with a thin vehicle fleet for its key day-to-day operations, pointing out that the release of the attached vehicles would ultimately improve service delivery in the country’s oldest town.

“Our water section is operating with only one truck, the same applies to the sewer and building inspection departments. Council would consider reconditioning some of the released vehicles to augment its operational vehicle fleet,” he said.

Services in Masvingo city almost collapsed in 2011 after the city’s entire vehicle fleet, including refuse collection trucks and ambulances were attached by the Messenger of Court after workers won a salary dispute with its workers backdated to the advent of dollarisation in 2009.

Even office furniture such as desks and chairs, together with key equipment such as computers, were also attached before eventually released on humanitarian grounds. Council at one time was forced to hire service vehicles for its senior managers from the Central Mechanical Equipment Department while outsourcing refuse collection.

Residents argued that the move was costly, with serious implications on the city’s already precarious financial position.