GWERU — Gweru City Council has for the fifth time this year failed to pay its workers on time, despite numerous promises by city fathers that they were working on addressing revenue inflow problems.
Stephen Chadenga
Town clerk Daniel Matawu said in a statement that council’s inflows continue getting lower than its outflows. Salaries for lower grades are expected to be paid within 10 days.
“Our inflows continue to lag behind our outflows,” he said. “Consequently we are unable to pay employees their salaries and wages on due date, that is July 28.”
“We will continue monitoring our inflows and should they improve, we expect to pay the lower grades before August 12,” part of the statement reads.
For June salaries, the workers were paid on July 5, with the municipality pointing to cash inflow problems.
The municipality has been criticised by residents for failing to come up with income-generating projects and instead prioritising providing luxuries for top and middle managers.
In June, council reportedly purchased vehicles worth $2 million, a move the outgoing mayor Tedious Chimombe defended, saying the pool of cars was meant to improve service delivery.
