HARARE City Council (HCC) top official Mathew Marara has reportedly gone AWOL (absent without official leave) and the municipality is set to remove him from its payroll.
Marara is accused of allegedly creating a Grade 1 (b) position under a job evaluation which he was in charge of and was not interviewed.
The position is equivalent to that of the town clerk and has seen Marara receiving luxurious benefits including a top-of-the-range vehicle.
Sources at HCC yesterday told NewsDay that Marara has not been performing any duties at Town House for some time now.
“We don’t know where Marara is reporting to these days, what his role is at council at the moment and he has not been reporting for work of late. You can only meet him at funny events,” the sources said.
“There are moves to remove him from the payroll and the human resources office has already been advised on the role of Marara but has been reluctant to effect the decision and this might see heads roll at Harare City Council.”
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The chairperson of the HCC human resources committee, George Mujajati in an interview with NewsDay yesterday confirmed that they recently met to discuss Marara’s situation.
“We had a meeting and we resolved that we should go back to our original grades. Currently, we are waiting for the Local Government Board to advise us on the next plan,” he said.
Marara was not answering his phone yesterday.
However, Harare mayor Jacob Mafume yesterday said he was aware of the matter and the leadership was waiting for a council resolution after being notified of the human resources committee resolutions.
“If the position does not exist something cannot rest on nothing. We have a human resource committee resolution and this will be discussed in a full council meeting to become a council resolution,” he said.
The job evaluation at the city council plunged Town House into another scandal as it emerged that the municipality was operating with two town clerks for almost a year.
In an alleged unholy pact, suspended town clerk Hosiah Chisango and Marara allegedly awarded themselves lucrative grade one contracts.
The two are said to have taken delivery of Toyota Land Cruisers 300 series as part of their contracts.
He is alleged to have forged documents to give himself a lucrative position without the approval of the Local Government ministry, it has emerged.
Marara is accused of having allegedly structured new grades at Harare Municipality awarding himself a lucrative position as the executive assistant to the town clerk.
He was earmarked to replace the arrested town clerk Hosiah Chisango, but was thrown under the bus by Harare City Council councillors who blocked the move.
HCC director of water, Engineer Phakamile Mabhena Moyo has been appointed the acting town clerk.
This is not the first time Marara has hogged the limelight, albeit, for the wrong reasons, after the commission of inquiry probing the operations of Harare City Council (HCC) from 2017 to date questioned the US$329 000 compensation he was paid before re-admitting him.
Marara received US$329 000 as compensation for the period he was on suspension over corruption charges.
He was suspended alongside other top HCC officials, among them Edgar Dzehonye and Tonderai Mukora, from the survey section.
Marara last month accused senior officials within the municipality of allegedly orchestrating a campaign to tarnish his reputation and create discord between him, Mafume and Chisango.
Marara said the accusations against him, which include claims of self-promotion and misuse of council resources, were part of a co-ordinated effort to undermine him.
Through a letter addressed to acting town clerk Mabhena Moyo, Marara’s legal team, Lunga and Mazikana Attorneys, refuted claims that Marara had been appointed to his position by Chisango, clarifying that all decisions regarding Marara’s appointment, reinstatement and compensation were duly approved by the council.
According to the lawyers, the continued silence from the council suggests a plot to pressure Marara into resigning, an act they described as “constructive dismissal”.