daniel chigunweTrust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
SENIOR officials of cash-strapped Harare City Council are reportedly each pocketing holiday allowances totalling US$9 000 a year while the council struggles to provide services to residents.
This came to light yesterday when Mr Matthew Marara, the City’s assistant director to the town clerk, appeared before the commission investigating Harare City Council and disclosed that he had received over US$27 000 in holiday allowances alone for the 30-months he was on suspension.
In May last year, President Mnangagwa appointed retired Judge, Justice Maphios Cheda, to lead the commission in probing the operations of Harare City Council and its business units from 2017 to date.
Breaking down his US$131 000 back pay for the 30 months he was on suspension, Mr Marara said he was owed US$9 000 in local holiday allowances, calculated at US$3 000 per holiday for each of the three holidays he was entitled to from December 2020 to May 2023.
In addition, he also claimed US$18 000 in regional holiday allowances, calculated at US$6 000 per holiday, for the same period.
As a Grade Two employee, Mr Marara also revealed that he was entitled to receive over US$3 250 for newspaper allowances for the 30 months and US$12 870 for fuel.
Mr Marara expressed sadness that he was being singled out as if he was the only council official receiving such large perks, saying that he had merely requested what his colleagues had already received, and justified the payment of his newspaper allowance.
When asked if it was proper to receive newspaper allowances, Mr Marara said: “Yes, by the time I was not at work, I was supposed to get these newspapers when I was at work. So, I am used to reading newspapers, so I continued buying newspapers on my own.”
He also told the commission that he was not the first person to be given back pay, adding that the council simply used previous deeds of settlements to calculate his back pay.
“It is not surprising because there are several people in the City of Harare who have got similar deeds and it didn’t start with me.”
According to the deed of settlement, Mr Marara was entitled to receive a locomotion allowance, which was calculated using the applicable rates for Grade 2 employees and the total amount due to him for the 30 months was US$14 399,99, which was agreed to be non-taxable.
In terms of gadgets allowances, the council agreed that Mr Marara was due for three issuances of gadgets, which included a laptop valued at US$3,700, a cell phone valued at US$2 550, and an iPad valued at US$1 920.
According to the summary of the settlement, the total amount of salary and allowances payable to the employee amounted to US$61 200. The total amount of contractual benefits payable to the employee was US$70 153,87.
The total amount payable to the employee under the deed of settlement was US$131 353,87.
According to Mr Marara, all the council’s Grade 2 employees received the same perks.
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