(TALKZIMBABWE) Pres Mugabe earns only US$300, says Biti

Pres Mugabe earns only US$300, says Biti
Floyd Nkomo
Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:51:00 +0000

THE Minister of Finance says President Robert Mugabe is earning only US$300 because the government is unable to pay him a larger salary.

Speaking on the eve of a strike action threat by teachers over salaries, Tendai Biti said that the fiscus was not generating enough money to pay adequate salaries to civil servants.

Biti indicated that President Mugabe was earning just US$300 a month because the economy was underperforming.

"Even the President is currently earning US$300 and we can’t draw water from stones. The economy is not performing," said Biti.

The minister urged teachers to halt a planned strike action and be patient until government had adequate financial resources to meet their salary demands.

He said while the State was "extremely concerned" with their plight, Treasury had no money.

The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) has indicated that its members might not report for duty when the third term starts tomorrow until their grievances over salaries, allowances and other benefits were met.

Biti and his Education, Arts, Sport and Culture counterpart David Coltart said civil servants had to understand that the Government did not have the resources to pay the kind of salaries they were demanding.

Biti told The Herald newspaper that the Government was operating on limited cash resources with "little fiscus space" to manoeuvre.

"Our main priority is to pay the civil servants and from the time we announced salaries for the civil service, about 70 percent or two-thirds of the budget has gone to pay our workers," he said.

Government in July recorded its highest revenue inflows this year of about US$90 million, he said, but 65 percent of this was gobbled by salaries.

"We paid around US$52 million for civil servants’ salaries and the rest has to go to hospitals for drugs, the various embassies across the world, food, and inputs for agricultural activities, among other expenses.

"Unless there is a dramatic improvement in the economy and revenue improves by 300 percent, we have no fiscal space for a salary increment at the moment.

The Finance Minister said there were 236 000 civil servants and if all were paid the lowest desired wage of US$400, Government would have to fork out more than US$94 million per month.

"There are also some pensioners whose number is almost half the number of civil servants. There is absolutely no fiscal space.

"There is no money and Government is currently operating on a cash budget," Biti said.

Minister Coltart said Zimta’s intention, if carried out, would negatively impact on students.

"We regret the decision. While I understand their plight, it is the children who are going to be affected.

"Public examinations are around the corner and teachers are contemplating withdrawing service. That is very disheartening," Minister Coltart said.

He said he had met with union leaders to explain that the Government was willing to improve their conditions of service but was presently not in a position to do so.

"When I met the association, I told them Government wants to improve their welfare, but the major impediment is we do not have the resources.

"They want salaries to match those in the region, but they should understand that our economy is not functioning well compared to our neighbours," he said.

The two teachers' unions are currently not in agreement over which course of action to take.

The militant Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) is against strike action this time saying this would be counter-productive less than a month before public examinations.

Zimta favour strike action.

Addressing a Press conference in Harare last Friday, Zimta president Tendai Chikowore said: "Having observed that since March 2009 lots of promises to address the teachers’ grievances by the employer have proven to be a non-event, we exhaustively consulted, lobbied and negotiated with principals involved on the remuneration issue.

"Educators have, as a last resort, resolved to proceed to withdraw labour with effect from the 2nd of September 2009 until their demands are met."

She said teachers wanted parents to be relieved of Government’s responsibility of paying for their salaries through the incentives system adopted by many schools.

Under the incentive schemes, teachers’ salaries have been considerably topped up by parents, making it possible for these schools to remain open.

"Educators should not continue to live in abject poverty and perpetual debt caused by the burgeoning unpaid domestic bills and unaffordable costs of educating their own children.

"The State has an obligation to safeguard the teachers’ right to adequate remuneration that guarantees a decent life," Mrs Chikowore said.

However, Mrs Chikowore would not say how much the teachers were demanding, but hinted that the figures should be commensurate with regional salaries.

On average, a Zimbabwean teacher takes home US$155 per month.

PTUZ secretary-general Raymond Majongwe, who is usually uncompromising and militant, yesterday said his union would not be joining the proposed strike.

"We know that some doctors were fired after going on industrial action and we do not want to expose our membership to such action.

"We have engaged Government and we are meeting Finance Minister Tendai Biti and some other ministers tomorrow (today) at 4pm.

"We also understand Government’s position and the situation in the country where the revenue base is still small," he said.

Majongwe said it would be irresponsible to forgo another school term and disrupt lessons.

He said PTUZ consultations indicated the public was against the strike.