Civil servants’ salary demands are unreasonable: Mavima

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The Government appreciates remuneration concerns by the civil service and is instituting internal processes to address the problem but the workers need to be considerate of Government’s other obligations in their demands, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Professor Paul Mavima has said.

President Mnangagwa’s administration has made clear its commitment to continuously improve the civil service salaries and wages as well as other employment terms.

Over the weekend, Government said it was in the interim giving its workers a 100 percent salary increment as a relief measure pending the outcome of negotiations on employment packages.

This on top of the US dollar relief allowance awarded across the civil service to cushion workers from costs of living, the majority of the civil service is getting US$175, and this respite is being continued.

However, some within the civil service yesterday staged a flash demonstration in Harare to push authorities into meeting their demands for US dollar denominated salaries.

Government has made it clear there would be no dollarisation and that all expenditure must be tied to revenue, with no borrowing for recurrent expenditure.

Speaking to The Herald yesterday, Minister Mavima confirmed that internal processes to address concerns of workers and counselled for realism within the public service as government purse is supposed to meet other fiscal obligations.

“There will be consultations within Government and then once a new position has been developed we will go back to the negotiating board table. But the civil servants themselves have to be very very considerate in their demands,” said Minister Mavima.

“We cannot put all the money into salaries, it would not make sense, there has to be service delivery, there has to be investments in terms of infrastructure, so there has to be money left from the revenues of government after we have paid the civil service.”

Minister Mavima noted the need to strike a balance between livelihoods and the medium to long-term development of the country.

Zimbabwe is being configured towards the attainment of an upper middle income society by 2030 as a means of improving people’s livelihoods.

Huge progress in this regard has been recorded in infrastructure development projects like constructions of roads, amenities, houses, opening several companies and creating an environment to attract investment into the country.

However, despite the Treasury’s involvement in these capital intensive projects, Government has not reneged from the welfare of the civil servants.

These include the construction of houses, and ensuring the availability of decent accommodation for civil servants.

Last month, Government also fulfilled part of its commitment to improve conditions of service for teachers after releasing $2,68 billion towards payment of their children’s school fees as agreed in February.

The funds from treasury catered for 103 556 children from all the country’s 10 provinces, the pledge by the Government was that it will pay for up to three biological children per teaching family paying up to $20 000 per child per term.

Government is also constructing cafeterias for the civil service to make sure they create a conducive working environment for them while they are at work.

–Herald