Council pays wages in groceries

The cash strapped Municipality of Gwanda is reported to have resorted to settling part of wages it owes to its employees in kind by offering employees groceries.

Employees from the Municipality told Bulawayo24 through a tip off that on the eve of Christmas when they demanded Council to pay them part of their outstanding wages so they could buy groceries for their families, Council instead offered to give them groceries instead of cash.

The employees claim that they were given groceries totaling up to about $50 each and were told the amounts would be deducted from their outstanding wages. The workers claim they had to accept the food packs in desperation as refusing them would have meant going home empty handed.

"I had no alternative but to accept this mode of payment for my outstanding wages as it at least gave me something to take home. We received rice, stamp, salt, jam amongst an assortment of other things which was better than nothing," said one employee.

Another employee said that he got food items valued at $54 but had to dispose them off for about $35 as he needed cash more than the groceries.

"I sold the groceries at a loss as I needed money more than the grocery," said the angry employee. "This is not good at all from council, we want our money which we worked for not food. We are in employment here not on a food for work program so we must be paid cash not in kind," he added.

Asked for a comment the chairman of the Gwanda Urban Councils Workers Union Mr Sipho Ndlovu said that the offer for groceries was not necessarily payment for outstanding wages but an offer from council to employees to purchase the goods which were excess requirement for a tuck-shop stork.

"The groceries were bought for a tuck-shop which Council wanted to operate and the groceries were excess and so offered to the workers at a discounted price. Those who did not have cash to pay agreed to have the money deducted from their outstanding wages while others paid cash," Ndlovu said.

The Municipality owes its workers close to a million dollars in outstanding wages stretching over a five month period.