CHITUNGWIZA mayor Phillip Mutoti was yesterday pummelled by angry council workers who stormed council offices in Zengeza demanding their outstanding salaries.
Edgar Gweshe
The cash-starved local authority has not been paying its workers for the past eight months.
Mutoti said he was assaulted by two workers while he was discussing the salaries issue with the council’s chamber secretary Priscilla Vengesai at Chitungwiza Municipality offices.
“We were in the middle of a meeting with the chamber secretary when the two forced their way into the office and started hurling insults at the chamber secretary over the issue of salaries,” Mutoti said.
The two unnamed workers were among the 50 council employees who stormed the local authority’s headquarters baying for top officials’ blood over outstanding salaries.
“It was after I tried to calm them down that they turned their anger on me and then assaulted me with open hands.” Mutoti said he was rescued by municipal police who rushed into the office to restrain the workers. “Had it not been for the municipal police officers, I think I would have been left for dead because there were other workers outside who were also baying for my blood. Even though I tried to explain the situation to them, they wouldn’t listen and it seemed as if they were bent on violence,” Mutoti said, adding that he had reported the matter to the police. “This is one of the worst experiences that I have encountered. Imagine people calling me all sorts of names in front of a huge crowd to the extent of even insulting my mother. It was really degrading.” Last month, Mutoti told a public meeting in the dormitory town that his council required about $2 million monthly to pay its 1 720 workers yet they were collecting between $500 000 to $800 000 per month in rates. He said the council was seeking loans to retrench about 1 120 excess employees so that they remain with about 620 workers. “When we came in, council owed workers huge amounts in unpaid salaries and since we are not collecting enough revenue, we decided that we should work out a plan that would allow us to pay the salaries using a method that was flexible to us as council. “However, it is unfortunate that at a time the workers are demanding their salaries, we are failing to collect enough revenue from residents and that has complicated the situation,” Mutoti said. Chitungwiza Municipality has since threatened residents with legal action over non-payment of rates. Several local authorities throughout the country have been struggling to meet their salary obligations mainly due to a decline in revenue. The situation was worsened by a government directive last year which ordered councils to write off ratepayers’ debts in the run-up to the general elections. Meanwhile, Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo yesterday reportedly fired Ward 25 in Chitungwiza councillor Fredrick Mabamba (Zanu PF) for engaging in illegal land allocations in the town. Mutoti yesterday said he had heard the reports but was yet to get official communication from Chombo. A local radio station, Star FM, said Mabamba was sacked from council after he was found guilty of illegally parcelling out council land to desperate home seekers, mostly at unsuitable sites. Mabamba was suspended last December to allow for investigations into shady land deals involving him and several council officials following a public outcry. Both Chombo and Mabamba could not be reached for comment yesterday.
