Chitungwiza municipality is in serious turmoil as workers threaten to go on strike over 49 months salary arrears amidst extravagance expenditure by the council.
The scandal ridden town council which recently made headlines after allegedly splashing half a million on a team building workshop allegedly pays its workers once in four months.
As reported by this publication, the 50 member team from the town council blew half a million in two days on accommodation, meals and hefty allowances in Kadoma while workers were going for 49 months without salaries, prompting them to now consider downing their tools.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with this publication, the President for the Chitungwiza Municipal workers union, Ephraim Katsira said the council was not taking heed of calls by workers to have their issues addressed.
“Since 2016 we have been trying to have engagements with our employers but they have shown no interest in giving us an audience hence we are proceeding in terms of the law now,” he said.
“By law we are allowed to demonstrate or go on strike and we are giving them notice of the industrial action we plan to take. They have tried to thwart the voices of the majority of workers by giving an audience to three minority unions which comprise of only 10% of the workers and ignoring us.
“They are threatening our existence as they have gone a step further by handpicking members of the workers committee they can control. We have since been trying to talk to them so we can discuss how we the workers have no protective clothing when working putting us at risk from health hazards.
“We want to be able to receive our salaries every month like every other employee instead of the once every four months we have been subjected to. We are owed salaries running for over 49 months and they still do not want to address us.”
When contacted for a comment on the issue, Public Relations Manager for Chitungwiza Municipality Lovemore Meya said he was yet to be informed about the issues hence he could not comment.
The Chitungwiza council has been accused of abusing funds on numerous occasions while cases of negligence its roles to its employees have been reported. This comes at a time when residents are getting poor service delivery while the elite enjoy the little resources collected from ratepayers.
Chitungwiza is one of the towns which was hard hit by the cholera epidemic in 2018 and every other time when there are outbreaks.