Mwonzora axes Chamisa-aligned council staff

THE Douglas Mwonzoraled MDC-T Marondera council has fired more than 10 council workers aligned to the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance. NewsDay is reliably informed that 14 council workers, who are MDC Alliance supporters, had their contracts terminated as the tiff between the two opposition parties escalates.

MDC Alliance provincial spokesperson and former mayor Chengetai Murova yesterday confirmed the termination of the workers’ contracts.

“It’s true, they were just told that they were no longer signing new contracts, and they were informed that their contracts have been terminated. I gather that those affected are from the security and billing departments,” Murova said.

In 2018, MDC Alliance councillors created posts for their party supporters who joined the local authority as voluntary workers.

The voluntary workers had their contracts renewed monthly.

Marondera mayor Simbarashe Nyahuye (MDC-T) confirmed the termination of the contracts saying the move was not politically motivated.

“Those are contracts based on rotational basis and they only sign their contracts on a monthly basis. If council refuses to renew your contract, that means it has been terminated and it’s very clear in the contract form,” he said.

“It’s not a matter of being an MDC Alliance member, but you know that during the tenure of those recalled councillors, they were refusing this process of rotating people, as we know that Marondera is for us all. It is not for a few people to benefit. You shall see in the near future that the workers will be rotating again,” he said.

A WhatsApp chat, which was leaked from an MDC-T group in Marondera, stated that the termination of the contracts was meant to “fix” MDC Alliance members.

Chamisa had six of his councillors recalled in Marondera.

Caston Matewu, the former Marondera Central legislator was also recalled by the MDC-T.