Zimonline
By Patricia Mpofu
Tuesday 17 March 2009
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s teachers have threatened a fresh work boycott unless the
country’s new government agrees to pay them more than the US$100 allowance
paid to every civil servant last month.
Officials from the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) and the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) – the two representative bodies for
teachers in the country – told ZimOnline on Monday that their members would
not report for duty for the second term in May unless they were paid more
money.
The union officials said they told Education Minister David Coltart in a
meeting yesterday that they would not report for duty unless the government
topped up their salaries or allowances.
But the union leaders appeared comfortable with teachers getting paid US$100
this month, indicating their members would remain at work if this was the
case but would go on strike if the allowance was not topped up in April.
“We told the minister that our members are very unhappy and have given the
government up to April 2009 to find the money, failure of which teachers
will not go back to work,” said ZIMTA chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu.
PTUZ secretary general Raymond Majongwe said: “We have registered our
concerns with the minister and have also written to the Minister of Public
Service on the failure to hold salary negotiations for March as agreed last
month.”
Coltart described his meeting with teachers’ unions as “fruitful” adding
that his ministry and the government was working to improve salaries for
teachers.
He said: “It was agreed the government has no capacity at the moment to
improve on their allowances. The Minister of Finance has assured us the
government is looking for funding. We are aware of their concerns and we
will be continuously looking into improving the salaries.”
The government of national unity between President Robert Mugabe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara is broke and
has no cash for salaries for teachers and hundreds of thousands of its
workers including the police and army.
The hard cash allowances paid civil servants last month and due to be paid
this month were raised from donors.
But rich Western governments with capacity to fund the unity government have
refused to provide support until they see evidence Mugabe is committed to
genuine power sharing and to implementing comprehensive political and
economic reforms.
Finance Minster Tendai Biti last week told journalists the international
community had to step in and assist Zimbabwe’s new government or it would
fail to deliver on its promises and ultimately collapse.
Biti yesterday said he could not comment on whether the government had found
money for salaries for its workers as promised last month but pleaded with
civil servants to be patient while the administration looked to address
their salary grievances.
“What I can say is that we are all the time looking for money. It takes time
but we are trying all the time. Civil servants will be paid but we appeal
for patience,” said Biti.
However government sources said civil servants will again be paid US$100
each to be deposited in their respective bank accounts beginning today, with
teachers the first to get paid followed by soldiers who will be paid
tomorrow.
The rest of government workers will receive their allowances in coming days,
according to our sources.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), which facilitated
formation of the unity government in Harare, is planning to hold an
extraordinary summit to discuss ways to convince the international community
to provide US$2 billion urgently needed to kick start Zimbabwe’s stalled
economy and restore basics services such as health and education.
But analysts see little hope that Western governments – many that had
demanded Mugabe’s resignation before they could support Zimbabwe – would
agree to give significant aid before Harare meets a set of tough benchmarks,
including providing a credible economic recovery plan, upholding human
rights and taking firm steps to write a new and democratic constitution for
the country.