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Victor Maphosa Herald Correspondent
GOVERNMENT does not take lightly nepotism reports at Harare City Council and investigations will soon be instituted to deal with the rot, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Deputy Minister Jennifer Mhlanga has said.

This week, The Herald exposed  allegations of nepotism at the local authority following the discovery of a quite a sizeable number of workers who share the same surnames with some councillors and senior MDC-Alliance officials.

“We do not take these matters (nepotism) lightly,” said Deputy Minister Mhlanga. “We are looking into the matter and investigations will be instituted soon.”

Harare Town Clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango told The Herald that council will also carry out its own  investigations into the matter.

“We are going to investigate the matter through our Human Resources Department to find out how all that happened,” he said. “We also want to know whether those employed through alleged nepotism are qualified for the job or not.”

Harare City Council in February this year recruited over 772 municipal police officers and several others in the fire and parking sections.

A good number of the top managers and councillors share surnames with at least two recruits each, while in some cases up to eight recruits share the same surname.

Names that feature prominently among the new employees include Gomba, Chikombo, Nyatsuro, Jena, Takawira, Nyandoro, Puzumado, Mwonzora, Chamisa, Marara, Denhere, Chitiyo, Mandere, Machingura, Moyo, Mukunguma, Munetsi, Mushore, Muzuva, Mukora and Taruvinga.

The recruitment has sparked outrage, with some breathing fire over the involvement of councillors in the recruitment process.

According to a document by concerned stakeholders titled, “City of Harare Report on Current State of Affairs, January 2018 to June 2019”, councillors were heavily involved in the recruitment of their kith and kin, perhaps as reward for their campaign work.