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Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Reporter
HARARE City Council workers who were last year promised 4 229 serviced residential stands as settlement for outstanding salaries, have sued the local authority seeking an order compelling it to avail the properties.

Council — which is struggling to pay salaries on time — signed an agreement with the workers in November last year undertaking to allocate each of the workers a stand within six months.

The allocation of the stands, according to the agreement, was to clear the $15 million council owes the workers.

For those who turned down the stands offer, council, promised to pay them a total of $300 000 per month.

Seven months later, the local authority this week failed to deliver.

To that end, the workers, through the Harare Municipal Workers Union, the Water and Allied Workers’ Union, Zimbabwe Urban Council Workers’ Union and the Zimbabwe Allied Municipalities Workers Union, have filed a High Court application to compel council to honour its promise.

The workers want council to allocate them the promised stands or to pay them the outstanding $15 079 321 plus interest.

They are being represented by Mangezi, Nleya &Partners Legal Practitioners.

In the application filed at the High Court on Tuesday, the workers argued that council bound itself to deliver 4 229 stands within six months as an alternative to paying arrear salaries in a deed of settlement signed on November 7 last year.

It was a further term of the agreement that the local authority will pay $300 000 monthly to those workers who were not interested in the stands deal. The workers contend that council has already violated the agreement and that it must now be compelled to honour its undertakings by an order of the High Court.

“The satisfaction of the terms of the agreement was to be done within six months after the signing of the deed of settlement,” reads the plaintiff’s declaration.

“It is now more than six months after the signing of the deed of settlement but defendant has failed, refused, or neglected to satisfy the terms of the deed of settlement despite lawful demand.”

Harare City Council is yet to respond to the claim.