SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Government has been warned that it must keep its word and pay civil servants their bonuses this month, as failure to do so will be a serious dereliction of duty. This was said by the Progressive Teachers’ Union’s Raymond Majongwe, who also warned that his group will not stand by and watch government spoil Christmas for its membership.“At the moment it is still a rumour, and we have not heard anything official from the government. But should this turn out to be true this is will be “a serious abdication of responsibility by the government and, as teachers, we will not take kindly to this,” Majongwe said. At the beginning of November, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the state-controlled Chronicle newspaper that civil servants will be paid their bonuses beginning last month. Chinamasa was quoted as having said: “We are working towards the payment of the 13th cheque and that will be done at the end of November. We will honour it.” While army personnel have since received their 13th cheque as promised, and teachers were expecting to get theirs before Christmas, an unconfirmed rumour suggests that may not happen as the government is broke. A Thursday report in the NewsDay newspaper said teachers were expected to get their December salaries on the 13th, with suggestions that the bonus will follow later, probably on the 27th. Unions have since written to the Public Service Ministry for clarification, with the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Union (ZIMTA) warning that failure to pay the bonuses will cause problems for future labour relations.“They (government) promised and they should deliver. They have given bonuses to soldiers and the police. It will be a travesty of justice,” Sifiso Ndlovu, the ZIMTA leader said. Speaking to SW Radio Africa Majongwe – the secretary-general of the PTUZ which represents 15,000 teachers – said if the government was able to find money to give to farmers and soldiers, it will be unacceptable for the State to then say they can’t pay other civil servants.“Any deviation from paying bonuses to teachers who continue to do their bit for the civil service, will be an insult. So far we have not heard anything from government, and they are just leaving us to guess.“ZANU PF is heading towards its congress where they are obviously going to be spending millions of dollars. In my view, it is in bad taste for them to forge ahead with that programme knowing well that they would have spoilt Christmas for us,” said Majongwe. The union leader said teachers will not accept any excuses that the Treasury has no funds to pay bonuses as normal “in a country that we know is oozing with abundant mineral wealth”. At the inauguration of the new government, ZANU PF pledged to address the plight of the civil servants, including improving working conditions and salaries. But nothing has happened with indications that negotiations between the relevant ministry and the Apex Council, the umbrella civil servants body, have stalled due to divisions in the latter. Majongwe said suspicion was rife that the government created this disharmony and lack of cooperation within the civil service “at the level of the so-called Apex Council”.“But despite all that, we gave this new administration the benefit of the doubt but that is now wearing thin. We want to make it clear that we expect them to deliver on the promises made both at election time and at inauguration,” Majongwe added.