Chegutu council workers have accused the municipality’s top management of looting and lavish spending at a time the local authority has gone for three months with paying salaries
One of the Works Council members who spoke to 263Chat on condition of anonymity accused Chegutu Acting Town Clerk Jacob Chikuruwo of gobbling close to ZWL$5 Million in allowances for attending workshops.
The disgruntled workers accused Chegutu municipality senior managers of prioritizing their allowances which keeps them afloat while other low-grade employees are forced to wallow in poverty.
“We have been patient enough with the leadership of Chikuruwo. I think he is just not the right guy for the job. Of late he alone has gobbled allowances close to $5 million while most workers and service delivery suffer. The house has been on fire of late while the Town Clerk has been globe-trotting from workshop to workshop, some of which do not even want for a person of his calibre. I think its time we put an end to this,” said the disgruntled worker.
According to a Chegutu municipality source, Chikuruwo spent the whole of last week away in Harare, Nyanga, Rusape, and Gokwe on workshops and other meetings.
Other senior managers have also been on a rampage as well pocketing reasonable amounts of money while other workers struggle to make ends meet.
“We have since engaged the policymakers but to no avail. Policymakers will have their own issues, hence dealing with our own issues may not be a priority. As we speak, the Acting Town Clerk is in Gokwe where he has been since Thursday last week and from there, he is going to policy makers and other senior managers for another trip to Nyangombe while employees suffer,” said another employee.
“We had thought the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission had come to save us from such unscrupulous elements, but it seems the disease is such big that it will take time to deal with. I think the Minister has to take action in such cases. Ivo vanowana mari kubva kuma allowances nematrips avanogadzirirana ko isu tisingaende kumatrip toitawo sei,” another employee added.
Contacted for comment, Chegutu Municipality Spokesperson Brian Nkiwane confirmed that they were in arrears but were working flat out to pay all the outstanding salaries.
Nkiwane said some employees had already received their September salaries with priority being given to low level workers while top management will be the last.
“All I can tell you is that yes, we are two months behind in terms of salaries, but as I speak, some of the employees have already been paid their September salaries, with the middle and senior management yet to receive theirs. As for accusations against Acting Town Clerk, he has been away on council business but I am not sure if the figures being thrown around are true. We are doing our best to make sure workers get what belongs to them in time,” said Nkiwane.
Efforts to get a comment from Chikuruwo were fruitless as his mobile phone was not reachable at the time of publishing.
