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(HERALD) Biti's U-turn on Govt pay rise

Biti's U-turn on Govt pay rise
Monday, 20 June 2011 01:00

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti, who has repeatedly claimed that Government has no money to award civil servants a pay rise, yesterday changed the tune and linked improved salaries to completion of an audit of Government workers.

Minister Biti spoke as anger rose in the civil service with workers saying a strike was inevitable, especially after Government bought ministers and other senior officials top-of-the-range vehicles.

Addressing an MDC-T rally at Mkoba Stadium in Gweru yesterday, Minister Biti dug in and said there would be no salary increment for civil servants. The minister has all along claimed that Treasury had no money to pay its workers better salaries.

But yesterday, he was singing a different tune, saying the issue of civil servants could only be addressed after the completion of the civil service audit.
His remarks are in direct defiance of the Government which has approved an increase in civil servants' salaries.

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"There has been an attack on my person with some sections of the media claiming that I am refusing to pay the civil servants money. Where do I get the money when the preliminary civil service audit results reveal that there are 75 000 ghost workers on the civil service bill? There is no money to pay civil servants now and let me make it very clear that we can only review civil servants' salaries after flushing out these ghost workers," said Minister Biti.

When the audit was released, the Public Service Commission was highly critical of the auditors, noting that the overwhelming majority of those identified as "ghost workers" were in fact civil servants physically present and doing their job and who simply had a clerical error or a missing document in their service records.

The minister said there was duplication of Employment Code numbers in the civil service, a development which he said needed to be dealt with before any pay rise could be effected.

Civil servants' representatives yesterday said an industrial action was inevitable after members of the uniformed forces received their June salaries without any adjustments.
Uniformed forces cannot strike, but civil servants have done so in the past.

The rest of Government workers will receive their sala-ries beginning tomorrow and unions said it was clear there would be no salary increment.

This is despite assurance from the Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro that salaries would be revie-wed this month.

In an interview last Friday, Minister Mukonoweshuro said: "We agreed civil servants' salaries will be reviewed in June and that position still stands."

Ministers Mukonoweshuro and Biti who are both from MDC-T have been issuing conflicting statements on the issue.

At the rally, Minister Biti insisted that Treasury had no money, saying his ministry had not received anything from diamond proceeds since January this year.

"There are some who want to pretend to have love for the civil servants by continuously stating that I am refusing to release money. I have not received anything from the diamonds proceeds since January and the last time the Treasury got something from the diamond sales was last year," he said. In an interview on Friday, Minister Biti said Government revenue collections were also going down.

"There is no money. Revenue collections are going down. In March we collected US$213 million, US$184 million in April and US$164 million in May," Minister Biti said.
However, Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation chairman Mr Godwills Masimirembwa disputed Minister Biti's claims saying the diamond sector was contributing a fair share to Treasury.

Mr Masimirembwa said Minister Biti should also talk about the contribution of other minerals mined in Zimbabwe instead of concentrating on diamonds.

"We are told Zimra is exceeding its target. Diamonds are indeed contributing to the economy, revenue collections from Zimra are doing well, so civil servants should be given money.

"But what is the whole mining sector bringing in. We must also interrogate where the platinum money is going," Mr Masimirembwa said.

Treasury officials Government recently agreed to increase its workers' have also advised the Public Service Commission that it was feasible to increase civil servants salaries.

Government has agreed to increase the salaries to a minimum of US$397 effective this month and said the onus was now left on Minister Biti to determine when to release the money.

Prime Minister Mr Morgan Tsvangirai who also addressed the same rally further dented civil servants' hopes when he reiterated that there would be no salary increments for civil servants.This is despite reports that Mr Tsvangirai in his capacity as one of the country's principals met with other two principals, President Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and directed Mr Biti to review the civil servants salaries this month.

"I was with the President (Mugabe) recently and I asked him whether (Mr) Biti was government or a mere minister? I argued that there is no money for civil servants and that Biti as young as he is cannot be wealthy enough to pay civil servants money from his personal purse as some want him to do," he said.

Civil servants take home between US$150 and US$ 200 amounts which are way below the poverty datum line which is estimated at US$ 502.Government last week announced that it was working on increasing civil servants to a minimum of US$ 253 or US$397 per depending on the availability of funds.

Mr Biti has been accused of defying government directives and acting as if he controls other ministers with Public Service Minister Mukonoweshuro, who is also from the MDC-T party, at one time attacking his counterpart for trying to become "a super minister".

As the salaries issue rages on, civil servants are getting impatient.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association president Mrs Tendai Chikowore, who doubles as Apex chairperson, said: "We are no longer worrying ourselves about Biti because he is not Government. The President (Mugabe) and the whole Cabinet want us to get increments but one person only is the stumbling block. We are only waiting for the Government to inform us on their position then we will take action."

Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe chief executive Emmanuel Nyawo said they would go on strike because Minister Biti was disregarding directives from President Mugabe..
"In this inclusive government we have a manager (Minister Biti) here who is refusing a directive from the managing director, who is the President.

"Imagine the expensive vehicles they bought for themselves, he is so insensitive to our plight and the best thing for us is to refuse to report for duty. He should face the music, as he wants to sail above President Mugabe," he said.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary general Raymond Majongwe added. "We are just waiting for that Tuesday confirmation in our bank accounts. We have said it categorically, if there is no change we will definitely down our tools because we have suffered for so long," said Mr Majongwe.

He dismissed reports that there were meetings going on between Government and workers representatives.

"It's surprising to hear that some people are claiming to be holding meetings. If that's the case, then they are being done Nicodemously. Government is not just committed," he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Tsvangirai yesterday told party supporters that he will not participate in the elections if the environment was conducive for free and fair elections.

"I have told the President that he has no authority to call the elections alone and if he decides that we hold elections without taking measures to ensure free and fair elections, we will not participate," he said.President Mugabe has said elections could be held this year or early next year while the Sadc summit in Sandton last week urged Zimbabwean .

The Sadc summit in Sandton called on the parties to the Global Political Agreement to move faster in the implementation of the agreement and create a conducive environment to hold free and fair elections under a level political field.

Zanu-PF accuses the MDC-T of frustrating the constitution making process to delay the elections. - Chronicle/Herald Reporters

Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, SALARIES, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 5:18 PM