‘Stop sackings’ . . . Minister saves 3,000 city workers Saviour Kasukuwere
Minister Saviour Kasukuwere

Minister Saviour Kasukuwere

Nyemudzai Kakore Herald Correspondent
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has stopped the Harare City Council from firing 3,000 workers at one fell swoop without giving a proper explanation for the move.

At least 3,000 Harare City Council workers were set to receive their letters of termination of contract on three months’ notice yesterday in line with the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing employers to sack employees on that basis.

The city has six directors, 45 middle managers and an overall workforce of 6,348.

The city’s joint Human Resources and General Purposes Committee and the Finance and Development Committee arrived at the decision to trim the council workforce after a special meeting on Monday evening.

Deputy mayor Thomas Muzuva ratified the position to avoid taking it to full council.

Minister Kasukuwere, whose ministry oversees local authorities, said the MDC-T-run city council could not fire the workers when government and Parliament were in the middle of rectifying the Labour Amendment Bill.

“We cannot have 3,000 workers being fired at once, so I have asked the city officials to prepare a full report which states the city’s workforce,” he said.

“I’m surprised that the City of Harare has moved in that direction. If they had come to my office I could not have accepted that.

“How do you fire the lowest workers who are three to four months behind their salaries. It is insensible for the city fathers and I will engage them and the mayor to work for a resolution.”

Minister Kasukuwere said chances to turnaround the city were there if residents paid for the services being offered by council.

Harare Municipal Workers Union chairperson Cosmas Bungu said the decision to fire the workers was ill-informed as it sacrificed them based on their political affiliations.

“The City of Harare should not be allowed to discriminate against workers based on political affiliation like what we are witnessing,” he said. “Initially they were targeting the municipal police, including other senior employees in all council departments who had served council diligently for more than 20 years.

“It’s on record in the public media that the City of Harare said that war veterans would not receive preferential treatment when rehiring, disregarding their credentials and background that these are the people who sacrificed for us the black people of this country.”

Urban and Rural Council’s Workers Union secretary Bernard Dhanda said the Harare City Council could not dismiss employees “like disposing garbage”, but should give workers a dignified exit through formal negotiations.

MDC-T Harare province chairman Eric Murai echoed Minister Kasukuwere’s sentiments saying the party was opposed to the proposed dismissal.

“The MDC Harare Province wishes to make it categorically clear that it will not allow the MDC-dominated council to fire even a single employee in line with the recent Supreme Court ruling.

‘’The party, through the province, has since directed the council not to engage in the needless retrenchment of employees in compliance with the court ruling,’’ Murai said.

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