HARARE - Former Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda has said the salary of town clerk Tendai Mahachi and his 18-member management team is reasonable.
Mahachi insists he earns $13 000 which he claims was approved by the mayor and the Local Government ministry, although some media reports claim he is taking home $37 642.
Masunda, who served as Harare mayor between 2008 and 2013, told a public lecture at the Harare Press Club on Tuesday that Mahachi’s $13 000 salary may strike the public as a large figure, but it’s fitting for the job of running a municipality such as the capital’s.
“When we came into office in July 2008 there was already a remuneration system that had been put in place,” Masunda said.
“On the basis of the numbers that were exhibited to me by Mahachi, there was nothing untoward with the basic salaries that were being paid.
“Those salaries compared favourably with the packages that were enjoyed by similarly qualified individuals.
“In the case of engineer (Christopher) Zvobgo, you can’t get a top-notch water engineer unless you pay appropriately.
“Unless something happened after my stint came to an end in July, the packages that I read about in the paper are patently untrue in respect of say Mahachi and other senior functionaries.”
Mahachi was suspended in January pending investigations into allegations of failing to discharge his duties and furnishing council with the salary schedule for Town House bosses.
The three-month suspension came after media reports that Mahachi, together with 18 managers, took home about $500 000 monthly, an assertion later rubbished by Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo.
Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni had said the suspension would be for a period of three months and was done in terms of Section 13 of the Urban Councils Act.
But Chombo later told a press conference in Harare that Mahachi was bouncing back as he could not be used as a sacrificial lamb because of a schedule whose origins were unknown.
Mahachi says his salary was approved after consultations that were carried out by Grant Thornton Camelsa auditing company. He said the Kurasha Commission report also justified their salaries.
He said he had informed Manyenyeni and showed him the salary schedule of all directors, which he claimed the mayor had approved.
Masunda said the salaries of the city director of water engineering Zvobgo, treasurer Misheck Mubvumbi, Psychology Chiwanga (Urban Planning) and chamber secretary Josephine Ncube appeared to be astronomical because they were getting backpay for either unlawful dismissal or suspension.
“Engineer Zvobgo, for instance, was unlawfully relieved of his job and he took the matter to court,” Masunda clarified. “From 2001 he was in the courts and in April 2009 the court ruled in his favour.
“So there was a whole lot of payback that was due to him and that I would like to believe, unless there is something that I am not aware of that happened after I left Town House, the figures that were published in the region of $30 000 had an element of payback.
Ncube and Chiwanga were suspended for 18 months and when they were reinstated, they got paybacks.”
A December 2013 Harare City Council salary schedule published in newspapers revealed that Mahachi’s take home pay stands at $37 642 while seven other top managers including Zvobgo, were earning $36 999 per month.
The schedule also stated that Mubvumbi, human capital director Cainos Chingombe, Cosmos Zvikaramba (Finance), Chiwanga, Phillip Pfukwa (Engineering) and Justin Chivavaya (Housing and Community Services) earned a cool $36 999 each.
Another top council official Chibanda Dombo and chamber secretary Ncube earned $34 299 while Prosper Chonzi (Health) got $33 413, according to the schedule.
Masunda said the salaries that the council top brass was getting during his tenure as mayor were not obscene.