CHINHOYI Municipality has gone on the market seeking $2 million to fund its retrenchment programme to whittle down staff from the current unsustainable wage bill.
BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
Town clerk Maxwell Kaitano this week confirmed council is on the market seeking money to finance the staff rationalisation process.
“We have started a process of seeking the $2 million and to that end we have advertised for objections from ratepayers. If we do not get objections, we will go ahead and start implementing the programme,” he said.
Kaitano was, however, not at liberty to release the numbers of employees to be affected by the programme.
“We currently do not have a number, but we are trying to reduce the employees from the current 300 to an optimal figure. The number will be released once we complete the necessary consultations with the employees as required by the law,” he added.
However, informed sources say the council is seeking to shed off 100 employees.
The town clerk said they would be looking at this department by department to see how many employees were necessary to carry out council work.
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Kaitano added the numbers to be retrenched would also depend on how many will opt for early retirement.
“The figures will be determined after we get funds and some elderly workers may opt to go on early retirement and then will also ask for those seeking voluntary retrenchment. Retrenchment is the last option if the numbers remain above the optimal figures,” he said.
If the process goes ahead, Chinhoyi will join a host of other municipalities and private sector organisations that have been reducing their wage bill as the economy continues to falter.
Chinhoyi, like other urban local authorities around the country, has been struggling to raise revenue from residents and ratepayers who were finding the going tough due to the depressed economy.
Many of the residents in the town used to work at the now-defunct Golden Kopje Mine, ailing Cold Storage Company and the perennially under-performing State-controlled Grain Marketing Board.
