MUTARE residents have reacted angrily to the decision by Mutare City Council to lay off 450 contract workers citing cash constraints that have dogged the eastern border city for several months.
REPORT BY OBEY MANAYITI
Since last year, the local authority has been struggling to pay its workers on time, a situation that has grossly compromised service delivery in the city once rated as the cleanest in the country.
The city employees were last paid four months ago.
In an interview with NewsDay this week, a senior council official who requested anonymity said they would not renew contracts for 450 contract workers because the city’s wage bill had ballooned.
He said the decision was meant to cut costs and improve on service delivery.
“We are not renewing contracts of 450 contract workers. We are only renewing 250 of them. The city’s wage bill has gone too high and this decision will make the wage bill manageable to us.
“The workers have been on three months contract and with the current challenges we are facing, it will be prudent for us to retain those we can manage to pay,” the official said.
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He added that service delivery would not be compromised as critical staff would be redeployed. He also announced that council was making inroads in paying outstanding salaries.
However, residents have reacted angrily to the decision.
Mutare Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association programmes co-ordinator David Mutambirwa said: “The city council is sacrificing its workers because of its mismanagement, corruption and shoddy deals which have been the order of the day at the civic centre.
“This is just a political decision. 450 workers who are supposed to look after their own families have been thrown into the wilderness because of this incompetence on the part of managers.”
Combined Mutare Residents and Ratepayers’ Association programmes co-ordinator Desmond Mwedzi said it was unfortunate as residents would pay the price.
“This is going to seriously impact on service delivery. Laying off 450 workers comes with a price to ratepayers in terms of service delivery. “That decision was not wise at all,” he said.
“We know for a fact that managers are championing this mess, of course, with the influence of certain politicians as a way of sabotaging the councilors at the expense of the whole city.”
