By Helen Kadirire
Suspended Harare City Council (HCC) town clerk James Mushore has said until council officially communicates that he has been axed, he remains a city employee.
This comes after the HCC’s Human Resources and General Purposes Committee met on Wednesday evening and reportedly resolved to axe the former NMB chief executive’s contract.
If the termination sails through, Mushore stands to walk away with over $165 000 in salary arrears and benefits.
But in an interview with the Daily News yesterday, Mushore said there was a lot of disarray at Town House with regards to his employment status.
Mushore was appointed town clerk in April 2016 but was suspended after two weeks in office by Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere who claimed the municipality had flouted appointment procedures.
“There is a situation at council where at one time they were denying that I was their employee, and then all of a sudden they are terminating my ‘contract’…the exact same contractual issue which is before the Labour Court.
“Council cannot keep messing with me like this. Out of the blue they ‘unilaterally’ terminate my contract, something is definitely wrong,” Mushore said.
He added that while he was waiting to take his next course of action after he has been officially informed of the city’s position. He said he could not act brashly based on newspaper articles.
“Once I hear from them, I will know what to do, but for now, I am going to let the law take its course because the matter has yet to be finalised,” he said.
Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni could not be reached for comment as his mobile phone was switched off.
He is on record arguing that the hounding out of office of the former banker was uncalled for.
Manyenyeni said Mushore’s suspension had turned political because he was not the candidate that Zanu PF wanted for the position.
“The issue of Mushore has locked up council. The succession of the town clerk has taken 30 months because we started these discussions when Ignatius Chombo was still our minister where we wanted a succession plan with the former town clerk which was going to take between three to six months,” he said.
MDC Harare provincial chairperson Eric Murai said the issue of the town clerk has stalled business at Town House because the city needs a substantive chief executive officer. Daily News
