RURAL and urban councillors in the Midlands province are
demanding motor vehicles and an upward review of their allowances when they
travel away from their stations on business to align their working conditions
with those of legislators.
The demands were presented to Local Government minister
July Moyo during a councillors’ induction workshop yesterday.
Gokwe ward 2 councillor Machinda Mutembedzi said there was
no reason why councillors and MPs should have different working conditions when
they were all elected public office bearers.
“An MP is elected in the same manner as a councillor. So
why would their conditions of service be different? If an MP is provided with a
car for his work, so must be a councillor,” he said.
Wilbert Rambanapasi, ward 12 councillor for Tongogara Rural
District Council in Shurugwi, echoed the same sentiments.
“In the rural areas, a councillor can walk for a long
distance to attend council business. Some actually live as far as 40km from
council offices and have to sometimes walk for such distances due to transport
problems in remote areas. So I think it is better to just review their
conditions of service and provide cars for them,” Rambanapasi said.
He said their monthly allowances were too meagre and
exposed them to mockery by management staff who should be subordinate to
councillors.
Former Gweru mayor Hamutendi Kombayi (ward 1 councillor)
said councillors’ out-of-pocket allowances should also be reviewed from the
current $10 a day.
In response, Moyo said the councillors must first improve
their revenue collections before they talk of any improvements in their
welfare.
“If councils make revenue that leave them within the 30:70
ratio of salaries and service delivery after all their demands have been
effected, there will be no problem at all. So my advice is that expand your
revenue bases then we can approve your demands. MPs also cover bigger areas
than just a single ward, and so that is why they are given cars, but if your
revenues improve, we can relook into that,” he said.
“A person ends up using their own cash while conducting
business of council. $10 is not fair at all. We need the allowance to be
reviewed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Harare City Council last month pledged to buy
iPads for councillors who had demanded the gadgets ostensibly to avoid wasting
of paper on documents as well as equip them with the latest information
technology devices. Newsday
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