Harare City Council director fired
HARARE City Council has fired its human capital and development director Cainos Chingombe following a resolution made over three years ago, NewsDay has learnt.
Acting mayor Stewart Mtizwa could neither confirm nor deny Chingombe’s dismissal, but sources said a decision was recently made to restore a resolution to dismiss him.
“I cannot comment on that for now,” Mtizwa said.
However, sources said Chingombe’s fate at Town House had since been sealed and officials would formally communicate the development to him.
“It is true that he has been fired. We have decided to send him home. In other words, the council has reinstated its earlier decision that we had agreed on,” the source said.
Chingombe was not immediately available for comment yesterday, but officials at Town House said official communication had been sent to him.
The council boss was reinstated controversially by a full council meeting last year after having been on suspension for three years on allegations of misconduct.
Chingombe was suspended in 2017 together with then acting town clerk Josephine Ncube and Tendai Kwenda (finance director) on allegations of financial abuse following a report by a tribunal set up to investigate council’s compliance with employment costs regulations.
According to minutes of the human resources and general purposes committee last year, council approved the reinstatement of Chingombe, but some councillors were against the move.
“Councillor Tichaona Mhetu noted that some pertinent issues concerning the case of the human capital director had not been considered when the decision to reinstate him was made. The councillor cited the subsequent Supreme Court judgment which had ruled that the suspension of the human capital director from council service was above board. He had then proposed that council considers rescinding its decision to reinstate the incumbent into council service,” the minutes read in part.