HCC loses labour in severe brain drain

HARARE mayor Jacob Mafume (pictured) has disclosed that the city council has lost almost half of its workforce as employees seek opportunities overseas, severely impacting service delivery in the city.

In an interview with NewsDay, Mafume said over half of the council’s employees left for the Middle East, attracted by higher salaries and better working conditions.

He said this left council scrambling to fill critical gaps.

“Then our personnel are being poached because we are not able to pay them adequately. So the Middle East is taking a lot of our personnel that we will have trained.

“We lost over half of that personnel last year and as soon as they finish training them, they leave. So we are having that challenge,” Mafume said.

Council has been struggling to pay its workers. According to sources within council, workers received their December 2023 salaries end of February.

This failure to honour salary obligations has not only left employees financially strained but also compromised service delivery, as some resort to underhand activities to make ends meet.

Council has been accused of neglecting the welfare of its workers with those retiring going home empty-handed after years of service.

Last week, Water and Allied Workers Union of Zimbabwe (Wawuz) president Themba Musarurwa bemoaned the plight of workers saying many were scared of retiring because of zero savings as a result of poor salaries.

Wawuz represents workers in all local authorities around the country.

Zimbabwe’s economic woes, characterised by rampant inflation and a volatile local currency, have contributed to the inability of local authorities to retain talent.

The country has been grappling with a depreciating currency, prompting recent government efforts to introduce the Zimbabwe Gold (Zig) currency in a bid to stabilise the economy and mitigate inflationary pressures.

Government has also lost at least 5 000 civil servants to the UK alone in the past two years.

The civil servants have been struggling to survive on salaries that have been ravaged by inflation.