Zimbabwean Civil servants stranded

The Zimbabwe Telegraph
By Getrude Gumede
21 July 2009

ZIMBABWE – BULAWAYO – Zimbabwean civil servants, mostly teachers were on Tuesday stranded at banks after failing to access salaries amid reports that the payday has been deferred to next week.
By 8am, scores of teachers were seen queuing at banks in anticipation of withdrawing salaries but they were shocked when told by bank officials that their account balances did not reflect salary deposits.

The teachers, who also professed ignorance about the amount of money they would be paid this month, were furious over the delay in payment of salaries.

However, the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture sent a circular to teachers informing them about the deferment of the payday from 21 July to 28 July.

Contacted for comment, the Minister David Coltart said he was not aware that teachers were yet to receive their salaries.

He promised to “do all I can to make sure that teachers are paid on time.”

A teacher who asked not to be named said: “I went to the bank this morning expecting to get my salary but I was left stranded because there was no money. We urge the Government or rather our parent ministry to notify us in advance before we make our way to the bank only to be told that there is no salary.”

The civil servants said they were struggling to make ends meet with the US$100 allowance and the delay in payment of salaries has worsened the situation.

They said it was disheartening to note that the Government was taking time to give them payslips to enable them to budget accordingly.

“Considering that we got paid a paltry US$100 last month, the Government should be sensitive and make sure we urgently get the money for basic needs. After all, we don’t even know how much we are supposed to be paid,” said a civil servant.

The delay in salaries could be that the Government announced the budget allocation for employment costs on Thursday last week.

The Public Service Commission is said to be still in the process of calculating the salaries using the guidelines that were released by Finance Minister Tendai Biti, last week.

Minister Biti increased employment cost for the public service from US$377 million to US$528 million and set aside an additional US$151 million to year-end to support implementation of a modest pay structure.

He also allocated a further US$14 million per month over and above the current US$34 million to support a review covering the period from July 2009.

Salaries for civil servants were scrapped in March when the inclusive Government adopted multi-currency system after demonetising the Zimbabwean dollar.

The Government employees were offered US$100 allowance per month.

Civil servants have been threatening to strike over the US$100 but the re-introduction of salaries put their anxieties to rest.