Harare Council Now Totally Bankrupt After Cancelling Bills The Harare City Council is facing a crisis with the former Minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo after heeding to the latter’s directive to cancel all bills for the past three years. The directive issued a week before national elections has resulted in councils across the country failing to pay salaries for their employees. Faces were pale in Harare on Tuesday when many council workers complained their salaries for July were still unpaid at the close of day. But when contacted yesterday HCC spokesperson Leslie Gwindi, said the issue of non-payment of salaries at Town House had nothing to do with the government directive as the local authority had always staggered payment of salaries. “We are now looking at bills from July 1 and we are comfortable with that. We don’t see any negative impact from the directive because we have made sufficient arrangements to provide services and we will, “On salaries, just like any other municipality, we always stagger salaries, but as it stands, we don’t owe anybody. It has nothing to do with the directive, we have always staggered,” he said. Meanwhile senior Labour Consultant and Arbitrator, Mr MT Mahlangu in the below legal comment, explains the challenges Zimbabwe’s councils now have following Chombo’s directive. His analysis was compiled on the 28th July just before elections. BATTLELINES DRAWN BETWEEN CHOMBO AND URBAN COUNCILS WORKERS Chombo’s’ purported attempt to write off all water bills arrears owed councils by residents cannot go unchallenged for the following reasons. The Minister should be talking of liquidating bills arrears owed Urban Councils and not writing them off. Financial and legal issues are not addressed by the Minister. Financial issues like debt servicing and other mandatory obligations. This includes debtors and otherservice providers. Workers of Urban Councils have both a financial and legal relationship with Urban Councils. The employment relationship between Urban Councils and its workers is governed by the Labour Act, Chapter 28; 01 and not the Rural and Urban Councils Acts. Section 2A (3) of the Labour Act, Chapter 28; 01 provides :- “any Act that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Labour Act is a nullity to the extent it is inconsistent. In the circumstances , the purported directive by Minister Chombo is a nullity, as it goes against the provisions of an Act of Parliament in as far as Labour is concerned. A similar directive by the same ministry to the effect that the ratio between salaries and service delivery of each urban council should be 30:70. The courts have rubbished this directive as militating against collective bargaining and therefore theLabour Act. Minister Chombo has alluded to the fact that such a directive was a nullity. A synopsis of bills arrears owed local authorities is as follows:- Harare $400 million Bulawayo $100 million Mutare $20 million Kwekwe $9.5 million Of the total debt owed local authorities, 80% of the arrears is owed by government. It is unheard of that a debtor write off the debt he owes the creditor. It is not suprisingthat the majority have collapsed. Even a kraal head in the village knows that one cannot reap where he did not sow. For the ministry to wish off bills arrears by a stroke of a pen is a joke of the year. If the Minister is sincere about sympathising with urban dwellers, he can be a GoodSamaritan by paying off their bills. Again the arrears are not for residents only but government, businesses. The Minister is warned not to politic with people’s lives. Currently, some local authorities are 4-8 months in salary arrears e.g. Chitungwiza – 7 months, Mutare 5 months, Victoria Falls – 4 months. In practical terms, the Minister by his purported write off, of debts is superintending over the demise of Urban Councils. How are water chemicals going to be purchased without income? The electorate must not be fooled into believing that the Minister is sympathetic to them. This is not manna from heaven neither is it baccossi, as the debt will continue to hound them. “The timing of the directive is also suspicious, why on the election eve?” Any fair minded person must smell a rat. You can’t rob Peter to pay John. Councils’ movable and immovable assets will be sold to pay debts that councils would have failed to service owing to this so called misdirected directive. The same residents will foot the multiplied debt. Government Ministers are not expected to behave like demigods. Car licencing was transferred from Urban Councils to Post Offices and we were later told that Urban Councils were overstaffed when our jobs had been stolen and given to ZINWA,ZINARA and Post Offices. The Herald dated 25/07/2013 attributed the followingquotes to the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development :- 1) Section 133 of the Rural District Councils Act , Chapter 29;13 2) Selection 303 of the Urban Councils Act, Chapter 29;15 3) Section 15 of the Prescription Act, Chapter 8;11 For the avoidance of any doubt the abovementioned provisions will be quoted verbatim. Section 133(1)(a)(b) of the Rural District CouncilsAct , Chapter 29;13 provides :- subject to subsection 2, a “Council may” write off amounts owing to the“Council” by any person if the Council considers that :- a) Such amounts are irrecoverable ; or b) The costs, difficulties or disadvantages of collecting such amounts outweigh the value thereof Section 303 (a)(b) of the Urban Councils Act, Chapter 29;15 states :- A “Council may” write off amounts excluding rates, owing to the “Council” by any person if :- a) The Council considers that such amounts areirrecoverable b) In the opinion of the Council the difficulties, disadvantages or costs of collection thereof outweigh the value thereof Section 15 of the Prescription Act, Chapter 8; 11provides: - The period of a debt shall be thirty years, in the case of :- i) A debt secured by mortgage bond ii) A judgement debt iii) A debt in respect of taxation imposed or levied by or under any enactment c) Fifteen years in the case of a debt owed to the State d) Six years in the case of i) A debt arising from a bill of exchange or other negotiable instrument ii) A debt owed to the State e) Except where any enactment provides, otherwise, three years, in the case of any other debt What comes out clearly from Sections 133 and 303 of the Rural District Councils and Urban Councils Acts respectively is that it is the “Council” must resolve to cancel the debt for reasons stipulated in the said Act. Had the Legislature intended to involve the Minister it would have clearly so said. Coming to Section 15 of the Prescription Act, Chapter 8; 11, the provisions are quoted out in context. It is abundantly clear that the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Councils acted ultra vires, as “he is not the Council”. If government was sincere in cancelling debts it should have started with hospitals, schools and taxes. In any case, such an intervention could have made sense in the years 2006-2008. Any illegal marriage cannot produce legal offspring and as such, a legally incapacitated directive or policy line is null and void. This time around the Minister is strongly warned of a protracted legal battle over the so called write off of the bills. We will take him to the Highest Court in the land: All our stolen jobs must come back. “What is the Minister’s locus standi on the eve of the general election, what is his motivation?” Inserted by:- M.T.Mahlangu ZUCWU General Secretary P.D.G in Law – UZ MBA – NUST Labour Consultant and Arbitrator
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 16:02:04 +0000
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