THE Government has stopped councillors from being directly
or indirectly involved in the employment, procurement and allocation of stands
as this is a prerogative of the council management.
Speaking at a Press briefing at the Mhlahlandlela
Government Complex in Bulawayo on Friday, Local Government, Public Works and
National Housing Minister, Cde July Moyo said there was a need to restore
sanity within the local governance sector hence they will use all legislation
in their power to force councillors to toe the line.
The minister’s sentiments came after turmoil in Bulawayo
that saw some councillors led by Deputy Mayor, Tinashe Kambarami trying to
forcibly suspend the city’s Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube. The councillors
were allegedly angered after Mr Dube stopped them from interfering in the
distribution of the $5 million ward retention fund, procurement processes and
the employment of community groups and control of the sub-committee on the
allocation of stands and premises for development.
“My advice to all councillors, not just in Bulawayo is that
employment is not part of their job, this is the job of their administrators,
they (councillors) are responsible for employing just the top officials and
below that it is the responsibility of council officials.
“Imagine if we wake up saying Parliamentarians are
responsible for the employment of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, will these
police be able to police these parliamentarians — never, which is why we have
said councillors cannot take it upon themselves to meddle in employment
matters,” said Cde Moyo.
He said the councillors should stick to what the law
provided and let such matters be handled by the professionals employed to do
that.
“Government has been very fair to councillors by giving
them the mandate at least to appoint the senior officials only, I myself do not
meddle in the employment issues of my ministry, there are people responsible
for this, we won’t hesitate to employ stern measures to ensure that they stay
in check,” said Cde Moyo.
Bulawayo councillors have constantly clashed with council
officials and residents over the employment of sweeping groups in their wards,
with the councillors being accused of politicising the process. The sweeping
groups do various council stipulated duties inclusive of drain clearing, road
maintenance, grass cutting and street cleaning, and get a monthly salary.
At one point the Bulawayo Metropolitan Provincial
Administrator, Ms Khonzani Ncube had to write to the local authority on behalf
of the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing,
questioning the functions of the community groups.
Regarding the issue of interference in procurement matters,
Minister Moyo said the recently promulgated Procurement Act was clear on how
all procurement should be handled and nowhere in this act was there a provision
that councillors had a role to play.
“I have been told that there are councillors who are
interfering with procurement. The Procurement Act that has been put in place is
clear about who ought to be doing procurement just as ministers are not doing
procurement, councillors are not supposed to be involving themselves in
procurement issues. This is the work of council staff and even the staff in
order to make sure that heads of department also do not end up doing things
that are wrong, there are special committees that are set up in each council that
are responsible for procurement,” he said.
Cde Moyo noted that the issue of procurement extends to the
allocation of stands where he said the interference by councillors in the
allocation of stands caused unnecessary chaos which had the danger of scaring
away possible investors.
“We cannot have councillors allocating stands, just as
myself, I do not allocate stands, instead on behalf of Government I have State
land and a State land office, which is not even in the same building as my
office, that is responsible for allocating such land. People go to the State
land office to be on the waiting list and they are allocated land according to
this waiting list. So all councillors should stand warned that the work of
allocation of stands for residential, commercial and industrial is the
prerogative of council officials, it is that simple,” said the minister.
He said the ministry was now taking a sterner approach in
monitoring councillors to ensure that they adhere to laid down legislation.
“I must warn the councillors that if we have to enforce
various legislation using all kinds of enforcement systems that are at our
disposal we will do it without hesitation because we want to govern ourselves
properly so that when investors come they know where to go and look for an
office which can allocate stands, if they end up looking for a councillor that
creates chaos and that should not be allowed,” he said.
Bulawayo’s sub-committee on allocation of stands and
premises for development, which is a sub-committee of the Finance and
Development Committee charged with, among other things, the allocation of
premises for commercial, industrial stands and leases of council properties,
has previously been a sticking point within the local authority with
councillors constantly fighting over its control. Sunday News
0 comments:
Post a Comment