Zimbabwe's Civil Servants Yearn For Return To GNU Era Salaries
Zimbabwe’s civil servants are longing for the salaries they earned during the Government of National Unity (GNU) era when they took home monthly paychecks of US$540.
Mbekezeli Dube, a 36-year-old Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Service (ZPCS) officer (not his real name), lamented that the so-called “Second Republic” under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, which was ushered in by the November 2017 military coup, has reduced civil servants to a state of destitution.
Speaking to NewsDay, Dube who was 24 years old when he joined the ZPCS, said during the GNU era, civil servants lived a comfortable life but now they are struggling to make ends meet. He said:
The second republic has made us earn US$35 a month. Civil servants are struggling, personally I no longer love myself…
I joined the ZPCS not because I wanted to, but because I realised that a school dropout was making a significant living out of the US$540 that they earned.
During the Government of National Unity [GNU], ordinary folks managed to build their own houses and buy their first cars.
Government workers were earning around US$500 and retiring civil servants took not less than US$20 000 as lump sum money and minimum monthly pensions of around US$300.
But now [Finance Minister] Mthuli Ncube has reduced us to destitute. Gender-based violence will never stop when a father, who is a civil servant, gets a US$190 monthly salary to pay fees, buy food and pay rent, among other expenses.
On retirement after 40 years of service, they are given a US$300 lump sum pension contribution. Mthuli Ncube gives us his lunch money as a pension. Every month, we are backdated with deductions.
In an interview with NewsDay, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister July Moyo stated that the government can only afford to pay civil servants what it is currently capable of. Said Moyo:
The government can only give what it can afford as the GDP [gross domestic product] of this country tells us what we can pay the civil servant.
The civil servants in this country are [in the] middle income [bracket], I know the salaries and wages of the civil servants.
Civil servants are at a higher level as compared to the private sector and earn more than those in the private sector.
There is a national joint negotiating council which negotiates for many things apart from salaries. They have a timetable for how they negotiate.
Just like the turnover of any company can tell you what they can afford to pay workers.
However, Tendai Biti, who served as Finance Minister during the GNU era, expressed sympathy for the plight of civil servants.
Biti blamed the current Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Permanent Secretary, George Guvamatanga, for the civil servants’ dire situation. He said:
I am sorry to say this, civil servants may wish to go back to US$540 salaries, but with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, it is impossible. A mosquito will never kill malaria, never.
A general duty soldier in the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), Mengezi Dliwayo (not his real name), told NewsDay that the salary he is currently earning is not what he had signed up for. He said:
Awa ndiwo ma funnies [These are jokes]. I get paid ZiG$1 300 and US$190 as a monthly salary. I have to pay rent and other bills.
This is why we have many ex-soldiers who quit and join armed robbers. The biggest problem is we cannot speak out, especially the uniformed forces like police, ZPCS and army. I honestly miss that US$540 salary which we used to get.
In an interview with NewsDay, former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa said that the economic challenges facing civil servants and all other Zimbabwean citizens stemmed from the ongoing political crisis in the country. Said Chamisa:
The broken politics in this country breaks everything and the broken economy is a product of broken politics.
It does not help to run away from the choice of the people, a political settlement is needed. Look at what happened in South Africa, they respected the choices of the voters who expressed the need for leaders to join hands and work together.
The GNU was a power-sharing arrangement that was formed on February 13, 2009, and lasted until July 2013.
The parties that comprised the GNU were ZANU-PF, then led by the late Robert Mugabe who served as the President, MDC-T led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai who held the position of Prime Minister, and the MDC led by Arthur Mutambara who was the Deputy Prime Minister.
More: Pindula News
