The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka Sunday News Reporter
LOCAL authorities in the country have called for the amendment of the Local Authorities Draft Bill before it is passed into law, calling for the removal of some sections of the Bill which they say contradict the country’s constitution and existing labour laws. Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) secretary-general, Mr Tserayi Machinda, told Sunday News last week that the association had presented a position paper to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Dr Ignatius Chombo, proposing the amendments they want made to the Bill.
Mr Machinda said local authorities felt that some sections of the Draft Bill, particularly those that pertain to how local authorities should handle labour issues, should be removed to align the Bill with the country’s constitution.
UCAZ’s position paper, a copy of which was seen by Sunday News, argues that Section 93 of the Draft Bill which provides for summary dismissal of employees, is in direct contravention of the country’s Labour Act, which sets out clearly how dismissal issues should be handled.
“The Labour Act in section 101:9 talks about a model code of conduct which defines the relationship of the employer and employee. That section talks about how someone may be dismissed from work and every local authority should have a code of conduct which they should use as basis to dismiss an employee.’’
“Now the Draft Bill, in Section 93, provides for summary dismissal, when labour laws are clear on how dismissals should be held. We feel this section is not in line with the Labour Act and should be removed,” said Mr Machinda.
The local authorities, in their position paper, further cite Section 81, 93, 94, and 97 of the proposed Bill as some of the sections that contradict the Labour Act, calling for the complete removal of the sections.
UCAZ is also demanding the removal of Section 58 which provides for the formation of a human resources committee in all local authorities which will be responsible for handling recruitment issues.
Local authorities argue that the re-introduction of such permanent committees will increase local authorities expenditure and thus the section that provides for the establishment of the committees should be removed.
“At present there are no such committees in both Rural and Urban Councils Acts. The only time we had such committees in local government was during the executive mayors era. We feel that the re-introduction of these mandatory committees again contradicts labour laws.’’
“Recruitment of council employees is a highly technical undertaking which should be conducted by senior managers. When it comes to recruitment of senior managers a human capital development committee can thus be set up, but not on a permanent basis because recruitment of senior managers is not an everyday thing.
“So we feel that there is really no need to set up a permanent committee, which will be redundant most of the time but using council funds. It’s really unnecessary to put this into law,” argued Mr Machinda.
The UCAZ secretary-general said the association was now waiting for a response on their position paper, from the legal department in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.
