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Civil servants deserve a better deal
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
February 01, 2012

The country's civil servants downed tools in a quest for better salaries and working conditions by embarking on a five-day industrial action since Monday the 23rdof January 2012.The industrial action has had a devastating impact on the country's education sector with lessons at most schools across the country failing to take off. According to Apex Council chairperson and Zimta president, Mrs Tendai Chikowore, the strike recorded a success rate of over 70 percent emphasizing on how the action had conveyed a "statement" to the government.

The National Joint Negotiating Council meeting held on the 25th of January, however, failed to bring favorable change offering civil servants increments of $52 for the least paid worker; increments which were largely described as "ambiguous". The offer was made against the civil servants' demand of a $288 increment. The least paid civil servant earns $253, an amount well below the $540 poverty datum line.

The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has castigated government for presenting a "budget analysis" instead of a salary structure. This was after Government negotiators had presented a resource envelope of US$240 million to improve civil servants' salaries and working conditions. PTUZ has since asked government to unpack that figure so as to respond to the express demands on salary, housing and transport allowances.

Health workers, however, have not yet joined the industrial action after government officials met with their leaders earlier and presented an undisclosed offer. Health workers' leader, who is also the President of the Nurses Council of Zimbabwe, Mrs Regina Smith confirmed this, saying they would consult with their membership before planning their next step. The health workers' leadership urged its membership to continue working until their meeting scheduled for Wednesday, 1st of February 2012.

Civil servants' demands seem to be falling on deaf ears as the government always blames its failure to remunerate workers well on sanctions. In its position paper, the Government argued that it was only sustainable to increase the wage bill by $240 million since revenue projections were not clear. The position paper further stated that the US$600 million assumed from diamond proceeds revenue for 2012 was uncertain and hence an unreliable source of revenue given that sanctions were extended to the country's diamond mining companies.

The civil service has for a long time fallen victim to ZANU PF's menacing, evidenced by the existence of over 13 000 ghost workers and an additional 62 000 Government workers with unclear positions. The government has, however been reluctant to deal with this and yet striking these ghost workers off the government payroll could go a long way in solving some of the problems the civil service is facing.

Considering the ever-rising cost of living, the plight of civil servants is understandable. It is now up to the government to come up with a new pay deal that will see the least paid worker taking home something above the poverty datum line which is currently at US$540. This problem does not end with civil servants only but also transcends to other sectors too. Recently, the wages for workers in the general agriculture sector went up by a miserable 7 percent from US$55 to US$59 per month.

The General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), demeaned this saying farm workers deserved better salaries that would enable them to afford a better living. The situation of workers in Zimbabwe is further worsened by the lack of incentives to further cushion them from the impacts of the prevailing unfavourable economic conditions.

The country's wage rates in US dollar terms may be higher than those of other countries in the region but, according to the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe, the prices and overall cost of living is also high. Malawi's poverty datum line in US dollar terms is $470 but its minimum wage at US$400, closely matches. The same goes for Zambia, whose poverty datum line is US$140 whilst its minimum wage is US$110.

Whilst tax is the largest contributor to the government treasury, it is not enough to finance the country's wage bill. Revenue from the country's vast natural resources should be channelled directly to the treasury so that it can develop the country; and this includes paying workers. The call is for the improvement in transparency in the handling of diamond revenues from Marange by putting in place mechanisms to ensure that proceeds from diamond sales will go straight into the public purse.

The coalition government is famous for repeatedly stating that is broke but yet it spends millions of dollars pampering its officials with luxurious cars and worthless travels around the world. The latest reports of such are that Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is costing tax payers thousands of dollars every week flying business class between Zimbabwe and South Africa. This is at the expense of key sectors like education, health, infrastructure development and industry and commerce. The government should put a stop this reckless spending sprees and see to the prioritization these and other sectors so as to reduce current account expenditure and create fiscal space for the salaries and enhance exports to save funds for state workers' salaries.

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