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Innocent Ruwende Municipal Reporter
Harare City Council workers are up in arms against council’s plans to carry out a salary survey which could translate into slimmer pay packets. The city’s decision follows stakeholders’ concerns that the city was spending too much money on employment costs at a time when service delivery had declined. Stakeholders felt the city was overpaying its workers compared to other sectors and Government.

However, Harare Municipal Workers’ Union executive chairman Mr Cosmas Bungu said it was offensive to say that employees are not part and parcel of the service delivery. “If the workers are not happy, then how is the city going to have clean streets, well built roads. Without happy workers, there ceases to be service delivery.

“HMWU, as social partners, are of the qualified view that that labour costs are part of service delivery and that there is no way that we can separate the two. The city has to simply revamp its revenue collection strategies in order to enhance its income, service delivery and the prompt payment of salaries in terms of the law SI 135/12,” he said.

Mr Bungu said the city was owed more than $500 million revenue, which should be collected since it is coming out of employees’ service already provided.

“As employees, we have also advocated for transparency in the utilisation of resources and also the plugging of financial leakages towards achieving the city’s Vision 2025 and Zim-Asset targets hence our appeal before and now that council should accept Government assistance where Minister Cde Saviour Kasukuwere and the ministry had offered to assist the city.”

“The crusher station which is our ‘diamond’, can help massively in the city being able to provide affordable housing instead of giving undeveloped stands which do not have a structure and off-site and on-site infrastructure which can also be obtained through utilising the crusher station resource,” he said.

Harare Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni is on record as saying council salaries should not be a secret and that the city, when advertising for posts, used to disclose the remuneration in job adverts.

In the $465 million 2016 budget, it is projected that $307 million will accrue to council at December 31, 2016 while actual collections are anticipated at $157 million during the same period. It is envisaged that 51 percent of the anticipated actual collections will fund employment costs while 49 percent will go towards service delivery.