Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
GWERU City Council employees have agreed to end their strike on condition councillors and management cut travelling expenditure. The workers demanded that the Gweru City Council should stop getting food from Fairmile Motel to offset bills.The workers made the demands which management and councillors agreed to at a meeting on Friday which was called by the Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Jason Machaya, to bring normalcy to the city whose service delivery had collapsed because of the strike.

Workers went on strike on April 28 demanding outstanding salaries, bonuses and protective clothing.

They were also demanding that management and councillors be banned from travelling out of the city at the local authority’s expense amid indications that they gobbled over $250,000 in travel and subsistence allowances since last year.

The cash-strapped council also offset Fairmile Hotel’s $56,000 water and rates bill with food for councillors and management much to the chagrin of workers.

Already, councillors have accumulated a $40,000 bill at the hotel with the remaining $16,000 to be paid in $5,000 weekly instalments.

Enraged council workers took to the streets demanding that there be a travel ban on management and councillors as part of their conditions to go back to work.

The strike paralysed operations at the local authority with uncollected garbage piling up in the city while burst sewers had also become the order of the day.

Provincial Administrator Cecelia Chitiyo confirmed that councillors face travel bans.

On salaries, Chitiyo said it was resolved that council starts paying grades 1 to 7 their January and February salaries by Thursday this week.

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