KWEKWE councillors have tasked their manpower and general purpose committee to streamline top managers’ salaries and perks with a view to reducing them amid disclosures that the town clerk Emmanuel Musara’s annual salary and perks stood at $136 537 at a time the local authority is facing a financial squeeze.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA STAFF REPORTER
Debating the issue during a full council meeting last Friday, both Zanu PF and MDC-T councillors unanimously agreed that top management’s salaries should be tied to performance.
“We want a results-based management contract and this system of people just putting ratepayers’ money into their pockets at the expense of service delivery should just be stopped,” councillor Kanduro Lawa said.
According to a salary schedule released as part of the 2014 budget document by the local authority, Musara is on a basic salary of $1 862 but collects $5 000 in allowances.
“Minister of Local Government (Ignatius Chombo) has called on town clerks to cut down on their allowances and it is my view that the town clerk is earning a shocking salary at a time the lowest paid worker is earning $250,” councillor Weston Masiya said.
Musara earns a monthly retention allowance of $1 731, home telephone allowance of $384, unlimited cellphone usage, and $861 as education and school fees allowances. He also gets $250 as housing allowance despite that he stays in a council house.
This was in contrast to the 65 grade A2 employees whose average gross salary of $442,50 comprise of $250 basic pay, $4 soap, $22 transport and $130 housing allowances.
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Councillor Morris Chinadwa said the most shocking revelations was that Musara together with five other directors shared a cool $376 955, 52 among themselves while the other 709 council workers earned a combined $4 million a year.
“The salary disparities between the lower level workers and top management is just too huge and therefore there is a serious need to sanitise this major difference by cutting allowances to reasonable levels,” he said.
