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Kwekwe Council property up for auction

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KWEKWE — Disgruntled workers of Dandaro Marketing, the now-defunct subsidiary of Kwekwe City Council, have attached council property

KWEKWE — Disgruntled workers of Dandaro Marketing, the now-defunct subsidiary of Kwekwe City Council, have attached council property which will go under the hammer on Saturday over a wages and salaries debt.

BY BLESSED MHLANGA STAFF REPORTER

Kelvin Phiri and 41 other workers won a salaries arbitration ordering the council to pay them $48 000 which they registered with the Harare High Court last year.

The workers’ lawyer Innocent Hore said council had negotiated an out-of-court payment plan with the workers which they had continued to breach with impunity over the past four months.

“We have attached property owned by the local authority so that we recover a debt of $7 000 which council promised to pay on numerous times, but breached the agreement,” Hore said.

According to an advertisement posted by the Deputy Sheriff, the auction will be conducted over the weekend and will see council losing a Mazda B16 (AAE7470), an Imperial deep freezer and 73 empty crates of beer if they fail to settle the debt on time.

Kwekwe deputy mayor Aaron Sithole, however, said he was not aware that council property had been attached and would be going under the hammer over the weekend. “We have not yet been briefed about the latest development concerning Dandaro property which rightly belongs to Kwekwe City Council. I will have to check with management and see if we can save the property,” he said.

In March this year, council resolved to shut down Dandaro Marketing and transfer its 42 workers from the eight beer halls they worked at to other departments in the council.

The move was said to be aimed at improving service delivery and cutting down on debts.

The Deputy Sheriff will also auction property belonging to Blythedale Mining in High Court case 2021-13 in another labour case.

Blythedale is owned by Casper Tsvangirai, younger brother of former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who has failed to pay wages and salaries to Jomu Akuwetha and 25 other workers.

Properties that will go under the hammer include a Massey Ferguson 1184 tractor, hydraulic-powered dumper trailer and earthmoving machinery.