The three
criminals were convicted and jailed in October 2023 but the local authority has
since then not formally dismissed them and according to a prominent labour law
expert, they still enjoy full benefits.
Ministry of
Local Government and Public Works Permanent Secretary, Dr John Bhasera did not
answer questions sent to him by Masvingo Mirror.
It means that
the three will get a total golden handshake of US$108 000 when they come out of
prison.
The failure to
dismiss the three also means that Zvishavane Town Council has only one
substantive director; the Finance Director.
The convicted
officers are Town Secretary Tinoda Mukutu (55), Health, Housing and Community
Services Director Nhlanhla Ngwenya (46) and Town Engineer Dominic Mapwashike
(46).
Council
chairperson Takarangana Keta confirmed to Masvingo Mirror that council has not
terminated the trio’s employment contracts. Keta, however, said that Mukutu,
Ngwenya and Mapwashike are on forced leave and council has a standing no work
no pay resolution.
The labour
expert who spoke on condition of anonymity laughed off the chairman’s argument
and said the no work no pay policy applies in different circumstances and as it
is the three must be paid their full salaries.
Substantive
directors at the council earn in the range of US$1000 – US$1 250 and if this is
converted to three years, the three will drain US$108 000 from the
cash-strapped local authority.
Keta added that
council is beginning disciplinary hearings against the three next week. He said
they hearings were stalled because the trio was appealing against sentence and
conviction at the High and Supreme courts.
“The correct
position of the law is that a criminal conviction doesn’t substitute that a
worker undergoes a work disciplinary inquiry that should establish its own
verdict. If no hearing has been done that means that the convicted individuals
are still council employees who are entitled to their salaries,” said the
expert.
The trio was
convicted for flouting tender procedures and awarding the same contract twice
to JM Construction after the contractor failed to fulfil terms of the first
contract. The second contract was also awarded without a council resolution.
Zvishavane TC
entered into a partnership with Monitor Enterprises trading as JM Construction
for the servicing of 27 extension stands in the Central Business District (CBD)
valued at US$2 772 258.31 on May 23, 2016.
The contract
was terminated after the two-year agreed timeframe lapsed before JM
Construction completed the task. Council served a notice of cancellation of the
partnership to JM Construction on October 1, 2018.
Council did not
restart tender procedures, instead on December 17, 2019, the trio clandestinely
negotiated and hand-picked JM Construction to continue with the contract
without going to tender.
The trio was
arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
Lawyer and
local government expert Tatenda Nyoka said Zvishavane Council needs to take
disciplinary action against the convicted directors.
“Council should
treat criminal proceedings differently from labour proceedings. After taking
disciplinary proceedings it then has to recomend to the Local Government Board
for approval.
“As it stands
the directors are stil council employees since no labour proceedings were done
to avert that situation and there is nothing that stops the directors to come
back to work after finishing their sentence and its going present a trick
situation to the council fiscus. No council can function with one substantive
director hence there is need for the council to initiate processes to employ
the directors but all the same it cannot do so before it has dissmised the
convicted directors hence first things first,” said Nyoka. Masvingo Mirror
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