Civil Servants To Receive Conventional Bonus Plus "Special Presidential Bonus"
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged a US$200 bonus top-up for civil servants in addition to their regular annual bonuses.
This means that civil servants are this year receiving additional US dollar-denominated salaries under a “special presidential bonus.”
The secretary general of the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (ZCPSTU), David Dzatsunga, told Zimlive that the presidential bonus will be paid on top of the conventional 13th cheque already promised to the workers.
He said the additional incentive was offered at the Monday National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) meeting bringing together government and public sector union representatives. Said Dzatsunga:
The President intervened because we then realised that the bonuses were not going to be quite meaningful without that US$200 and also to clarify that the presidential bonus will be paid in two tranches; half of that will be paid this month and the other half will be paid next month. This was done to make sure that everybody gets their money.
So we are getting $200 plus a bit of what we were supposed to get as a bonus.
You find that the lowest-paid civil servant will get a bonus of $250 and then it goes up to about $347 for the upper grade. Naturally, workers were appreciative of the extra money.
According to the communiqué released at the end of the NJNC meeting, an additional US$200 will be paid to every government employee as a special presidential bonus. It reads:
Payment of the 2022 bonus for deputy director level and grades below will be in US dollars as 100% of gross pensionable emoluments (basic salary, transport and housing allowance. An additional US$200 will be paid to every employee as a special presidential bonus.
The bonus will be paid in two equal tranches across all sectors starting from November, with the latest payment being in December.
The government said the bonus will be paid over two months, with half of the bonus payment set to be effected alongside November salaries, and the other in December.
