HARARE Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi and his 18-member management team at Town House are gobbling close to $500 000 in monthly salaries, NewsDay has learnt.
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According to a December 2013 Harare City Council salary schedule shown to NewsDay yesterday, Mahachi’s take home stands at $37 642 with seven other top managers including city director of water engineering Christopher Zvobgo earning $36 999 per month.
The schedule was signed by Town House top three officials Mahachi; Finance director Cosmas Zvikaramba and Human Capital director Cainos Chingombe before it was sent to a local bank (named).
The shocking revelations of salaries of Town House managers came at a time service delivery was at an all-time low and when government has threatened to deal with obscene salaries earned by bosses of different parastatals and local authorities.
The December 11 2013 salary schedule also stated that City Treasurer Misheck Mubvumbi, Human Capital director Cainos Chingombe, Cosmos Zvikaramba (Finance), Psychology Chiwanga (Urban Planning); Phillip Pfukwa (Engineering) and Justin Chivavaya (Housing and Community Services) earn a cool $36 999 each.
Another top council official Chibanda Dombo and Chamber Secretary Josephine Ncube are each earning $34 299 while Prosper Chonzi (Health) is getting $33 413.
In the salary schedule, Richard Chinengundu, who recently rejoined Town House as Public Safety director got $2 470 while Masasi Booker a senior officer in the Town Clerk’s office got $8 200.
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Council spokesperson Leslie Gwindi is earning $15 204, while other middle managers earn between $12 567 and $17 251 each per month.
These include James Chiyangwa (Housing deputy director); Godfrey Kusangaya (Harare Water manager); Tendai Kwenda; Vumisani Sithole and Stewart Mungofa.
Informed sources said the salaries deposited at a local financial institution under batch number 000021 excluded hefty allowances the executives were getting.
The latest development came at a time councillors at Town House have been battling without success to access the executives’ salary structure.
It also came at a time workers from the Water Department have not been paid since November last year.
The name of the bank into which the salaries were deposited is given and so is the account number.
Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo last week, told NewsDay that he would not approve the council’s 2014 proposed budget until he has had sight of the executive’s salary schedule.
“I am yet to get a report (on salaries), but I sent a team to work on that. By Monday (yesterday), I will have reports for Harare, Bulawayo and Chitungwiza. If we don’t get that then we will not approve the (councils’) budget because we want to link it to that,” Chombo said.
“We want them well paid, but we don’t want obscene salaries for them. They should also sign 12-month long contracts to perform certain functions. They will be performance-based and if they fail, there won’t be any reason to renew their contracts and keep them.
You can’t give them big contracts to sit on their laurels for long.” Contacted for comment, sources at the bank said executive accounts were handled at a very senior level and, therefore, not accessible to members of staff.
Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni recently tried in vain to get the salaries schedule from Mahachi who reportedly continuously gave excuses.
The latest exposé is likely to brew a storm at Town House and with the general public as it coincided with the disclosure of other obscene salaries by executives at other public institutions such as the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS).
Deputy Information minister Supa Mandiwanzira recently told the Press that ZBC chief executive officer Happison Muchechetere, currently on suspension pending a forensic audit of the institution, was drawing a salary of $40 000 from the ailing parastatal.
Former ZBC board chairman and PSMAS boss Cuthbert Dube was last week said to be earning about $230 000 from the heavily-indebted medical aid society.
At the time of going to print last night, both Chombo and Manyenyeni could not be reached for comment.
