HARARE City Council has given multi-million dollar golden handshake to three top council executives who left recently as part of an ongoing rationalisation exercise without requisite government approval, a move that has thrown the local authority in a quandary, it has been established.
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NewsDay investigations have shown that Psychology Chiwanga (urban planning), Justin Chivavaya (housing) and Cosmas Zvikaramba (business development) were reportedly paid whopping reward of over $500 000 each as part of their retrenchment packages at a time the local authority was facing a debilitating financial squeeze that has seen service delivery plunge to an all-time low.
The matter has raised a storm as town clerk Tendai Mahachi processed the payments without seeking relevant approvals from Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo and Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa or even the City Fathers as required by Section 146 of the Urban Councils Act.
According to Urban Councils Act section 146 that deals with pension and other benefits on termination of service, Chombo in consultation with Chinamasa were required to approve the retirement or retrenchment pay packages before council could pay the executives.
The section reads: “Subject to such terms and conditions as the Local Government Board, in consultation with the minister and the minister responsible for finance may fix, a council may provide pecuniary benefits for its employees on their retirement, resignation, discharge or other termination of service or in the event of their sickness, injury or death, including the payment of the whole or part of any funeral and deathbed expenses, and for their dependants and for that purpose may effect policies of insurance, establish and maintain or contribute towards pension or provident funds or make such other provision as may be necessary to secure for such employees and their dependants any or all of the pecuniary benefits to which this subsection relates.”
The three directors all got in excess of $500 000 — two month salary for each year served in council according to the salary scale that subsisted before they left. But insiders castigated the move saying that was tantamount to bleeding council coffers at a time the national economy was hardly performing.
Human capital director Cainos Chingombe confirmed the payments yesterday saying that the local authority had finished paying perks for all directors but one. Other directors went through normal retirement due to age while others were retrenched and received terminal benefits running into several thousands of dollars.
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“On retrenchments, we have paid for Chiwanga director of urban planning, Chivavaya for housing department. We have agreed and paid in full,” Chingombe said. He said on Zvikaramba, council had made part payment and was likely to make the full payment soon. On health services director Stanley Mungofa we disagreed on some issues and referred the matter to the retrenchment board,” Chingombe said.
On high perks demanded, he said “there is a difference between what one needs and what we offer”.
Chingombe said the directors were happy with what they got.
He said the process would make Harare save close to $1,2 million starting from the first quarter of next year.
Council officials yesterday added that Town House could lose millions of dollars more by paying officials, whose positions have been made redundant following the restructuring exercise, saying other executives were likely to demand more as they had set a precedent by not seeking government approval for the former directors. Speculation was rife that to date that the local authority had splashed more than $2 million in the retrenchment of the ex-council directors.
The officials include spokesperson Leslie Gwindi, finance and administration manager Paul Dhliwayo, waste management manager Emmanuel Muza and parks and cemetery manager Raymond Chiromo. Harare is undergoing a rationalisation programme following the abolition and streamlining of other departments and positions that has seen the number of directors being reduced from 16 to 6.
More than 2 000 workers have also been affected in the process.
Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni yesterday professed ignorance over how much exactly council had given to the directors who vacated Town House and promised to provide information today.
“I don’t have figures now. We don’t have anything to hide, it’s only that the town clerk (Mahachi) is not there and the chamber secretary (Josephine Ncube) was not there and I am out of office now,” he said.
Human resources committee chairperson Councillor Wellington Chikombo confirmed negotiations were underway with those on their way out, but declined to give the figures involved.
Chikombo said the move to streamline was inspired by the need to cut on the workforce and concentrate on improving service delivery in Harare.
“We want to reduce costs and improve on service delivery. It was an austerity measure so that we don’t bite more that we can chew. This is no policy point of view. The HR and the affected workers are currently involved in protracted negotiations for their exit packages,” Chikombo said.
Chikombo could not give figures, but sources said that some of the officials needed between $200 000 and $500 000 to leave.
The local authority has come under the spotlight ever since the revelation that Mahachi and his 18 executives were gobbling more than $500 000 a month in salaries and allowances. Harare is faced with serious financial challenges that have seen the local authority going for months without paying salaries for workers.
