The Herald
By Felex Share
15 January 2010
Harare — Education, Sport, Art and Culture Minister David Coltart yesterday urged all concerned authorities in Government to put their heads together and urgently solve the salary dispute before the 14-day notice for industrial action given by civil servants expires.
This comes after negotiations between civil servants and their employer ended in a deadlock on Tuesday after Government rejected demands for a minimum salary of US$600 per month. Government said it was prepared to give the lowest paid worker US$122, while the highest paid employee gets US$236.
Housing and transport allowances are not included, prompting the civil servants to give their employer a 14-day ultimatum to meet their demands.
In an interview after meeting teachers’ unions yesterday, Minister Coltart said there was an urgent need for Government to solve civil servants’ grievances if the country’s economy was to continue recovering.
He urged all teachers to continue reporting for duty, assuring them he would be meeting Finance Minister Tendai Biti next Tuesday to deliberate on the matter.
The Minister pledged to take the matter to Cabinet next week and promised to meet teachers unions on January 26 for feedback, two days before the expiry of the ultimatum.
“Our economy has been showing great signs of recovery and if we don’t act swiftly, we will go back to zero. I am calling upon all my colleagues in Cabinet to put heads together for the development of the nation,” said Minister Coltart.
He challenged Government to act on its parastatals, which he said, were chewing up most of the civil servants’ and other workers’ salaries by charging astronomical rates and fees.
“Government must find a way of making these parastatals like Zesa, TelOne, city councils charge normal bills not what we are seeing at the moment. You find bills exceeding US$800 and where will that kind of money come from?” he said.
Minister Coltart reiterated that while he understood the plight of the teachers and the rest of the civil service, there was need for them to be patriotic for the benefit of the children, who were victims of the economic crisis.
“I urge the teachers to report for duty in the next weeks as we try by all means to work out a favourable plan for them. We know they have suffered for long and we will run around to solve this,” he said.
On payment of incentives to teachers by parents, Minister Coltart said while Government devised a method to scrap them, his Ministry would set up an Interim Policy Advisory Committee involving the teachers’ unions.
He said the committee would work with teams from his Ministry and parents to make sure guidelines were followed and the facility was not abused.
Teachers’ unions urged all their members to report for duty and confirmed they had a productive meeting with Minister Coltart.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Mr Raymond Majongwe, encouraged his members to take up classes at least for the stipulated two weeks.
“We are saying to our members we have suffered for too long, but let us just sacrifice for two weeks and wait and see what they will offer. If they fail to meet our demands then we would embark on a massive industrial action,” said Mr Majongwe.
A Zimta official echoed the same sentiments saying not reporting for duty before the ultimatum elapsed would be equal to predetermining Government’s response.