Opinion / Columnist
Factional fights among Harare Councillors back dates to Kasukuwere era
11 Jul 2018 at 10:07hrs | Views
Factional infighting among Harare City Councillors has been cited as one of the reasons three Councillors, Paula Macharangwanda, Wilton Janjasi and Urayayi Mangwiro were the only ones victimised by former Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere after they reportedly spurned plans to receive bribes in another unrelated land deal.
Reports indicate that these three Councillors are victims of the infighting among the Councillors from the same party over corruption issues.
In fact there are strong indications that the reason the Human Resources and General Purposes Committee Chairperson and his counterpart from the Environment Management Committee, both from Glen Glen Norah are vehemently opposed to the payment of damages to the three affected councillors whose suspensions were recently lifted by the Government-appointed Tribunal was because they are afraid of being exposed for their initial roles in the deals which were then laid on the footsteps of Macharangwanda, Mangwiro and Janjasi.
The three Councillors have reportedly crossed swords with Hebert Gomba (Environment Management Committee) and Wellington Chikombo (Human Resources and General Purposes Committee), over the Employment Council where Council officials say Gomba and Chikombo are the major actors in terms of facilitating workers are paid huge salaries above what the council can afford.
The Harare Residents Trust said it continues to investigate why there is so much animosity among most of the Councillors when it comes to the issues of corruption, land deals and handling of workers' demands.
"There is strong speculation that the huge payouts given to employees, and the predictable losses of labour matters by the City of Harare was directly benefiting a few Councillors who reportedly connive with the workers to demand more money, and the corrupt councillors will simply claim to be following the law when the reality is that they are routinely being paid around 10 percent of the payouts due to the workers. They reportedly abuse their positions by influencing the management to make certain decisions, assured that they will get their fair share of damages from the workers," said the trust.
Reports indicate that these three Councillors are victims of the infighting among the Councillors from the same party over corruption issues.
In fact there are strong indications that the reason the Human Resources and General Purposes Committee Chairperson and his counterpart from the Environment Management Committee, both from Glen Glen Norah are vehemently opposed to the payment of damages to the three affected councillors whose suspensions were recently lifted by the Government-appointed Tribunal was because they are afraid of being exposed for their initial roles in the deals which were then laid on the footsteps of Macharangwanda, Mangwiro and Janjasi.
The three Councillors have reportedly crossed swords with Hebert Gomba (Environment Management Committee) and Wellington Chikombo (Human Resources and General Purposes Committee), over the Employment Council where Council officials say Gomba and Chikombo are the major actors in terms of facilitating workers are paid huge salaries above what the council can afford.
The Harare Residents Trust said it continues to investigate why there is so much animosity among most of the Councillors when it comes to the issues of corruption, land deals and handling of workers' demands.
"There is strong speculation that the huge payouts given to employees, and the predictable losses of labour matters by the City of Harare was directly benefiting a few Councillors who reportedly connive with the workers to demand more money, and the corrupt councillors will simply claim to be following the law when the reality is that they are routinely being paid around 10 percent of the payouts due to the workers. They reportedly abuse their positions by influencing the management to make certain decisions, assured that they will get their fair share of damages from the workers," said the trust.
Source - Byo24News
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