NEW: Harare City Council nurses threaten strike

Online Reporter

MANAGEMENT at Harare City Council is currently engaging nurses who are threatening to go on strike over poor remuneration and conditions of service.

There are also reports that Harare Municipal Medical Aid Society (HAMAS) is profligately buying property at a time when the medical aid is not being accepted at hospitals and other medical facilities.

Appearing before the Justice Maphios Cheda-led commission of inquiry, which is looking into governance of the capital since 2017, City of Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume revealed that HAMAS bought a property for US$1 million from a Dr Kereke but were yet to receive title deeds.

Cllr said this while responding to allegations that he was interfering with management issues and frequently attending collective bargaining agreement meetings.

“I am not interfering. I am playing an oversight role of the functions of council and I am purely within the oversight role that is vested in me and us as the council,” he said.

“Myself, I attend the meetings to set the tone, to give direction in terms of where we ought to be, whether we have money, what needs to be done, what frameworks there is.

“We then have the councillors and our negotiating teams negotiate.”

Quizzed on the role he played during a collective bargaining meeting recently held in Mutare, Cllr Mafume told the commission that he was obliged to give direction to discussions.

“Currently, we are in a difficult operating environment. We employ almost close to 9 000 employees.

“We have a salary bill per month that goes to about US$2 million a month.

“The moment we stop and we are unable to have harmonious labour relations with the employees, the trade unions, then all the functions of council will grind to a halt,” he said.

“More often than not, they require me to attend to deal with issues of explaining why salaries are late, why we can’t give them a particular increment.

“Sometimes, they need to be paid in US dollars;I have to explain why we can’t pay in US dollars.

“Sometimes, our executives have got huge salaries.

“You have asked me why a whole mayor would attend a collective bargaining agreement.

“I can’t imagine any other useful use of my time because as I have come to the commission, our nurses are threatening to go on a strike.

“We have 800 nurses and if I am unable to persuade them not to go on a strike, we have got cholera, we have got diarrhoea, the rains are coming.

“Our other medical association developed a problem. They bought a house.

“Dr Kereke sold us a suburban house in Ruwa, where HAMAS paid US$1m for that particular house.

“The medical aid is being denied at hospitals. Doctors are not using it.

“Properties are being bought and the title deeds are not given to council.

“Money is being paid twice. My workers are not getting treatment and I went to ask what was happening with the medical aid,” he said.

Cllr Mafume told the commission that there are four other houses that were bought under similar circumstances.

Mafume will appear before the commission again on Wednesday.