MDC-T-led Harare City Council has finally terminated the
contract of former NMBZ Bank chief executive Mr James Mushore and the former
banker will smile all the way to the bank as the municipality owes him over
$165 000 in salary arrears and benefits. Mr Mushore could have pocketed a cool
$251 400 if council had continued with him as town clerk. The city is now
expected to appoint a new town clerk.
Mr Mushore signed a two-year contract with Harare City
Council on April 1 last year before being sent on forced leave a week later
after Government rescinded the appointment. Government argued his appointment
was unprocedural and violated the Urban Councils Act.
According to the law in question, council was supposed to
submit the names of three candidates to the Local Government Board for
approval. Harare has not been decisive on the matter, hiding under the pretext
that Mr Mushore had a pending matter at the Labour Court against council.
The Human Resources and General Purposes Committee met
yesterday evening and decided to terminate the contract.
Although chairperson of the committee Councillor Wellington
Chikombo could not be reached for comment, a councillor in the committee said
they were soon going to engage a new town clerk.
“This matter has been dragging for long and the delay by
the Labour Court in delivering judgment on the matter has not helped,” said the
councillor. “We have decided that we terminate Mr Mushore’s contract so that we
can move forward as a city.”
Mr Mushore’s appointment was sanctioned by the MDC-T
leadership which put pressure on former Harare deputy mayor Chris Mbanga to
resign over allegations that he defied a party directive not to suspend him.
Last year, the High Court ruled that Mr Mushore was
entitled to his salary and benefits and he had since threatened to sue council. Mr Mushore had
approached the High Court after Acting Mayor Cllr Chris Mbanga locked him out
of his office.
Although the High Court dismissed his application with
costs, it ruled that Mr Mushore was entitled to his salary and benefits. The
court also ruled that Mr Mushore was not sus- pended.
His benefits included fuel, airtime and an official
vehicle. According to his contract, Mr
Mushore was entitled to a monthly salary of $10 475.
0 comments:
Post a Comment