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Midlands Correspondent
CASH-STRAPPED Gweru City Council is allegedly still to pay its workers their September salaries.
Council is reportedly struggling to raise about $55 000 required for the salaries.
In an interview council financial director, Mr Edgar Mwedzi, said the council has since approached Government seeking assistance. He said council has no clue how to raise the money to pay its more than 1 000 workers.

“Our situation is very critical as our coffers are virtually empty. We are still to pay our workers their September salaries.
“Last time we paid our workers their August salaries through a bank overdraft,” he said.

Mr Mwedzi said the council was surviving from hand to mouth after the local authority complied with the Government directive to write-off bills totalling $16 million accrued by residents between February 2009 and June this year.

“We depend on rate payers’ money. We used subtle force on residents who owed council money to service their bills. We would either disconnect them and it’s no longer feasible for us to disconnect someone who owe council about $6 or less.

“We have however, approached the Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ministry with our predicament and we hope they will bail us,” he said.

Mr Mwedzi said the city’s revenue base was now below half of what they used to collect before the scraping of the bills.
He said the council was now collecting below $30 000 per month against a wage bill of $55 000.