Gvt slashes salaries of town clerks – Sunday Mail

via Gvt slashes salaries of town clerks Sunday, 15 December 2013 by Tinashe Farawo

Government has slashed salaries and benefits of town clerks and chairpersons of local authorities by 50 percent and ordered them to submit performance contracts by December 31. Those who fail to meet their targets will be fired, warned Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo.

Some municipal bosses are earning more than US$16 000 a month while employees are going for months without salaries.

The outrageous salaries drawn from the cash-strapped councils are in sharp contrast with the unabated decline in service delivery as most municipalities struggle to provide reliable water and sewer reticulation systems.

Dr Chombo told The Sunday Mail that salaries of senior management at local authorities were a scandal.

He then put a salary cap for town clerks at not more than US$8 000 including allowances before indicating the salaries would be made public in January next year.

“What is so special about the salaries of those people? If the public knows about President Mugabe’s salary why is it that local authorities are not telling residents how much they are earning through salaries and allowances?

“I have directed that their salaries, which should not be more than US$8 000 including allowances, be made public,” said Cde Chombo.

In accordance with a directive on performance contracts, he said Government has adopted the Integrated Results -Based Management (IRBM) system and council bosses should submit their performance contract by 31 December to the ministry.

“The roll out of IRBM to local authorities has commenced and will be consummated beginning 2014. To this end I hereby direct, in terms of Section 155 of the Rural District Councils Act and Section 313 of the Urban Councils Act that all town clerks, secretaries, chief executive officers and heads of department will draw up and sign a performance contract according to Zim Asset’s (Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation) key result areas for the managers and a copy of performance contracts should be lodged with ministry by December 31,” reads part of the letter dispatched to all the country’s 92 local authorities.

Minister Chombo warned that it was not “business as usual” as he urged local authorities to embrace the Government priorities as encapsulated in the country’s economic blueprintt, Zim Asset.

“In order to ensure that every level of Government is accountable for the achievement of the targets set in the economic blueprint, performance contracts will be introduced at all senior management levels in the public sector,” he said.

Dr Chombo noted that the targets need to be measurable and practical.

“What we are saying is let the heads of departments say by end of 2014, 20 percent of households in Harare will be receiving water every day. If the director of water fails he is gone because we cannot pay people for failure, they must bring achievable targets because we are going to provide the resources for key result areas enunciated in Zim Asset,” he said.

“Councils need to pass resolutions which are funded because when we are going to asses those resolutions, no one will say there was no money.”