Vic Falls bid to appoint town treasurer hits brick wall

THE Local Government Board has rejected a bid by the Victoria Falls council to appoint a town treasurer without advertising for the post.

The municipality resolved to automatically promote deputy town treasurer Mr Never Ndlovu when the incumbent Mr Thembinkosi Khumalo retires at the end of this year.

City fathers said the move was aimed at giving a chance to people from Victoria Falls as a way of empowering them.

The Local Government Board turned down the request and ordered the local authority to advertise for the post.

“I’ve correspondence here from the board about the elevation of deputy town treasurer to town treasurer. The board advised that the council should follow procedure. In essence they’re saying the post must be advertised,” Chamber Secretary Mrs Kholwani Mangena told a full council meeting last Thursday.

“The procedure is that these correspondences should go through respective committees but some of them are so urgent that they can’t wait for the time when the committee sits, which is mostly once a month.”

Councillors and the city’s management then agreed to advertise for the post, but did not give any timeframes.

There was, however, a suggestion that council’s General Purpose Committee will conduct the interviews so as to guard against the appointment of people from outside Victoria Falls.

Ward 6 Cllr Ephias Mambume said the idea was meant to reward hardworking individuals within the local authority.

“We had agreed as a council to uplift people we have trusted with their work. I think we can be constructively biased and second our own people because once we bring people from outside for interviews the scale might be tilted towards individuals we don’t even know who may cause problems,” said Cllr Mambume.

A decision to flout appointing procedures a few months ago saw the Harare City Council clashing with the Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere.

This was after the council appointed banker Mr James Mushore as town clerk without the Local Government Board’s approval.

This resulted in the suspension of Harare Mayor Cllr Bernard Manyenyeni, who was later reinstated.

@ncubeleon