MEMBERS of Parliament yesterday ordered Harare town clerk Tendai Mahachi to bring his current payslip to the House after he — for the second time in a fortnight — failed to give convincing answers pertaining to salaries and allowances given to top council executives.
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The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government led by Mutasa South MP Irene Zindi (Zanu PF) demanded Mahachi’s payslip to verify reports that he was getting an entertainment allowance and yet council was paying separately for most of the guests entertained at his residence.
Mahachi continued to evade most questions posed to him, prompting Harare West MP Jessie Majome (MDC-T) to issue a warning that he could be charged with contempt of Parliament.
Zindi said Mahachi should provide his payslip and records of salary negotiations to prove that the allowances paid to him and members of his executive team had council approval.
“The committee needs records from 2008 and I am sure we are straightforward. We need a traceable record on salary negotiations. We want him to give us his payslip that shows the list of allowances that he gets,” Zindi said.
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Two weeks ago, the committee ordered Mahachi to provide council resolutions that approved the executives’ salaries, but the council boss yesterday presented council resolutions of March 14 2008, saying it was then that the city decided to increase the salaries of the top executives.
He said the Zimbabwe dollar salaries indicated on the documents had been approved by Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo.
When Zindi asked him whether the March 14 2008 resolution still applied to the dollarised salary scales, Mahachi maintained that the resolution stood as it was not rescinded by council.
Another committee member, Joseph Chinotimba (Buhera South, Zanu PF), questioned why the city council had continued to peg its salaries on the 2008 resolution five years after the Zimbabwe dollar was phased out.
“Are you saying this is not the right paper because in 2009 everybody including the President (Robert Mugabe)’s money was adjusted?”
Last month, Mahachi was suspended by mayor Bernard Manyenyeni over the same issue, but Chombo immediately intervened and ordered the suspension order to be lifted.
Zindi also asked Mahachi to account for the $2,4 million council was reportedly getting each year from the sale of commuter omnibus parking discs. However, Mahachi said a lot of commuter omnibus operators had not paid for the discs.