(NEWZIMBABWE) Biti: Civil servants to get salaries and bonuses

Biti: Civil servants to get salaries and bonuses
by Lebo Nkatazo
17/07/2009 00:00:00

ZIMBABWE’S civil servants will get a salary this month, as well as bonuses in November, Finance Minister Tendai Biti announced on Thursday.

Biti did not reveal the figures, but the change will see the civil service wage bill rise from the current US$34 million to US$40 million, he said in a mid-term budget review presented to parliament.

The new pay structure, based on the public service grading system, takes effect from July 1.

The task of announcing the salary scale will fall on the Public Service Commission, with most civil servants expecting a substantial rise from the US$100 monthly allowances that they have been paid for the last five months.

The Voice of America’s Studio 7 reported last night that the average pay for civil servants would rise to US$150 – far short of the US$400 demanded by most unions.

Biti will know in the coming days if he has averted a planned strike by the country’s 90,000 teachers, but the signs were not good after Progressive Teachers’ Union (PTUZ) secretary general Raymond Majongwe accused the minister of failing to consult.

Majongwe blasted: “Tendai Biti has continued and perpetuated the Zanu PF way of doing things … that he sits with whoever he sits with and he makes his presentations like Father Christmas without prior consultations with relevant stake holders like trade unions.

“We also had to listen to him making submissions on what salaries civil servants will earn. We are very disappointed with that conduct.

“Basically, what he did is he talks about increasing salaries, but honestly after doing our calculations, it’s going to be very difficult for teachers to earn US$50 per teacher from what he presented, from our view.”

Majongwe said Biti’s budget review was anti-poor, adding that concessions made on import duty were not aimed at the poor.

“Ultimately,” Majongwe said, “we are very disappointed because the very concessions that have been made … people who are going to be able to import cars into the country are not the teachers, are not the poor people, it’s the same people who have money that have looted over the years that are going to import cars and bring them duty free. So there is nothing for the poor man in this budget (review).”

Biti encouraged Zimbabweans to use cheques and plastic money, which includes debit and credit cards, to counter the shortage of bank notes on the market.

He said as the government is no longer printing money, due to the introduction of multiple currencies, ministries should stick to their budget allocations to avoid the resurfacing of budget deficits which fuel inflation.