CHITUNGWIZA Council yesterday fired 236 workers by way of giving them three months’ notice of termination of their contracts.
BY MOSES MATENGA
Town clerk George Makunde said the move targeted those who used to work for the town’s defunct liquor department, workers facing disciplinary issues and those that were illegally employed in 2011.
The town was targeting to lay off at least 624 as a way of easing its bloated workforce.
They have failed to pay workers for the last 25 months and have failed to adequately address service delivery concerns.
“We worked with the figure of 236. Some who were in the liquor department and those who were unprocedurally employed in 2011. Those facing disciplinary action were also affected. We did not go the full throttle of the initial figure of 624,” Makunde said.
“We are handicapped financially and we are trying to survive under difficult conditions.”
Several cities, towns and companies have retrenched in the last few months riding on the July 17 Supreme Court judgements.
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But Chitungwiza Municipal Workers’ Union president Ephraim Katsina said the decision was unfair and council should ensure the workers are paid their two-year salaries in full before firing them.
Harare city council wanted to fire more than 3 000 workers before they were stopped by Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere.
Harare said those they wanted to fire were the non-performers, those who went absent without leave in 2008 and came back, and those facing disciplinary actions among others.
Chinhoyi recently fired more than 124 workers, but said they would reinstate them following the intervention of Kasukuwere.
