Flooding threatens Harare as ministerial approval ...

Flooding threatens Harare as ministerial approval stops city from recruiting contract workers

City of Harare on Twitter: "Council workers carry out drainage clearance ahead of the rainy season. The drain clearance programme is an ongoing process because each day our people are littering the

Bridget Mabanda

Harare faces the prospect of flooding as City of Harare authorities say relevant authorities are failing to approve recruitment of contract workers.

“As council we implore the Ministry to urgently attend to this issue as the EMC is deeply concerned with this inertia,” Council noted minutes of a post Human Resources and General Purpose Committee meeting held in the Chamber on December 13.

City officials say recruitment of contract workers to clear drainages, carry out anti-litter monitoring and do street cleaning as detailed in the July 12, 2022 agenda is in limbo.

"The said resolution has not been yet been fully implemented because the express approval for such from the parent Ministry of Local Government was not granted," reads the statement.

Council said they continue to worry about the delay of approval by relevant authorities to recruit contract workers.

This comes after residents raised concerns over mounting dumps of garbage in most suburbs and business centres.

The council said a follow up of the same with the Ministry was done, but it has not yielded success and recruitment of the said workers is still pending, awaiting authority and approval.

The council also said it will remain committed to dealing with environmental challenges affecting the City.

Council however notes there is need to strike a balance between human capital needs and provision of related tools and equipment required for employees to be productive.