HARARE City Council has embarked on restructuring exercise in a bid to fill several vacancies, with mayor Jacob Mafume saying this will renew residents confidence in Town House.
However, while Harare residents praised Mafume for clarity on the recruitment timeline, they said the exercise should be driven by necessity.
Warren Sean Chiwawa officiated as acting town clerk for the first time at a full council meeting last week after being appointed chamber secretary.
He assumed the acting town clerk role in accordance with the provisions of the Urban Councils Act. The appointment places him at the centre of Harare’s operations at a time when the municipality is working to stabilise its senior management structure.
To ensure continuity in the legal division, council confirmed that Ernest Mushava, a senior legal officer, will take over as acting chamber secretary.
Senior legal officer Alice Zeure will assume the role of acting legal manager during the transition.
Addressing the full council meeting, Mafume described Chiwawa’s position as one of the most critical at the local authority.
Mafume, himself a lawyer, said the local authority had confidence in Chiwawa’s legal background and experience to steer council business.
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He said plans to fill the position of human capital director were at an advanced stage, signalling council’s intent to close long-standing gaps in the executive.
Chiwawa’s ascension comes as council pushes to restore confidence in its administrative processes and accelerate service delivery reforms.
“We have confidence in acting town clerk Chiwawa. We have new blood, which is energetic. Our move is to fill vacant posts in acting capacity,” Mafume said.
“On filling the financial director post, we still have a long way because we have very few people who have shown interest.”
Meanwhile, residents said the move by Town House assisted in avoiding prolonged acting arrangements that affected decision-making and accountability in key departments.
Harare Residents Trust executive director Precious Shumba said the exercise should be driven by necessity and not emotion.
“The restructuring exercise should be driven by necessity, not emotion, to place favourable people in strategic positions for the systematic looting of council resources,” he said.
“Once favoured individuals are appointed to strategic positions, the cartel will easily access opportunities in council and use their positions to influence governance priorities and issues, undermining transparency and accountability.
“In appointing people the criteria should be competence and skill sets, not age alone as a factor of delivery outputs. The more experienced the better for the City of Harare.”
Combined Harare Residents Association director Reuben Akili said filling of vacant posts at Harare City Council should be done in a transparent manner.
“The vacant posts should be filled in a transparent manner where adverts are put in newspapers while the council employs competent individuals,” he said.
“We have always said that it is difficult to have a person working in an acting capacity because there is no continuity.”
