via Workers beat up Chitungwiza Mayor over unpaid wages | SW Radio Africa by Mthulisi Mathuthu on Friday, June 6, 2014
Barely a week after Apostolic worshippers beat the police in Harare, the extent of public anger with authorities was revealed Thursday when angry workers assaulted the Mayor of Chitungwiza over unpaid wages.
Reports said 50 irate workers barged into a meeting at the Zengeza council offices where two of them assaulted Mayor Phillip Mutoti as he was discussing the issue of salaries with an administrator. Mutoti said the two assaulted him as he tried to calm them down and it took the municipal police to restrain them. Describing the experience as his ‘worst ever’, Mutoti said had the police not intervened his assailants would have ‘left’ him ‘for the dead’.
The cash-strapped Chitungwiza Municipality has not paid its workers for more than 10 months. Recently Mutoti revealed that the council needed as much as $2m a month to finance its wage bill and the local authority was collecting less than half of that in revenue.
The local authority’s case is not isolated, as most municipalities countrywide are struggling with their wage bills due to a decline in revenue. The situation was worsened by a government directive which ordered all the local authorities to cancel residents’ debts ahead of elections last year. Municipalities have said since that directive residents have not been paying their charges.
But corruption has also been blamed for the Chitungwiza council’s woes. Two months ago council workers told Parliament of a scam involving a secret account from which 18 council managers were withdrawing $235,000 a month. The council subsequently fired those workers, accusing them of violating its code of conduct.
Community leaders told SW Radio Africa that tension has been bubbling under the surface for too long and the beating of the mayor was bound to happen. Chitungwiza Residents Trust spokesperson Marvelous Khumalo condemned the beating of the mayor but said the incident indicated that the situation at the council has ‘gotten out of hand.’ He urged the government to chip in and ‘correct the anomaly.’
Khumalo’s comments come after public impatience with the ZANU PF government is already stretched to dangerous levels. Addressing local clerics in Rome on Monday Pope Francis said Zimbabweans ‘have reached their human limit, and do not know where to turn’, a situation which the ZANU PF government seems to be oblivious to.
As the Pope was saying this Budiriro worshippers who beat up the police as they tried to close down their Church were being hauled to court amid heavy riot police presence. It also emerged that at the African Union the ZANU PF government was pushing for the criminalization of popular uprisings, such as occurred in North Africa, during which many oppressive regimes have been swept away.
COMMENTS
This is the start, wait and see what happens when they can’t pay the army
Let the games begin
Hear Hear Roving Ambassador
Zanoids prepare u dreedy selves for some good hidings as a prelude
As a people you have no idea how much power you have. These idiots are voted into power and overpay themselves and dont even provide a service they are supposed to provide. Zimbabweans, we need to wake up. We give these people the power. we can take it away at any time and we should!
The powers in ZANU are very worried about the increasing militancy of the grass roots. People have had enough and are starting to take to the streets. Well done to the council workers, now let the people of Chitungwiza and every other township go to your resident CIOs. Those that live amongst you. Go quietly at night and give them and their families the same treatment only worse! Then throw them out of the townships, we will soon see them dance to another tune.. If it happens I will report back ZANUs reaction. I am the insider.
If reports of this secret account from which 18 council managers were withdrawing $235,000 a month is true then The Councils are not broke at all.
There is plenty of money to provide service but they choose to pay each other at the expense of service delivery.
I was going to say its wrong to beat up the Mayor but now I think maybe they should all be beaten up until they get their priorities right. No?