Zim Daily
By Nozipho Maseko
Wednesday January 6, 2010
HARARE -Teachers yesterday demanded that Government pay them a minimum salary of US$600 and threatened not to return to work when schools open for the first term next Tuesday. Zimbabwe has more than 90 000 teachers and if Government agrees to give them US$600, this would translate to more than US$55 million, which is half the country’s total tax revenue monthly. The teachers claimed they were not aware of their salaries and were concerned with the Government’s silence on the matter since the announcement of the budget last December. They also wanted to know if their calls to have salary structures had been addressed.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Mr Takavafira Zhou yesterday said they would not report for duty next week because they had for long agreed to go along with the “proposed road map plan†set out by Minister of Education, Sport and Culture Senator David Coltart. “We have given the Inclusive Government enough time and a long rope to tie itself on. It’s high time they give us salaries above Poverty Datum Line meaning anything not less than US$600.
“Right now we don’t know what we are getting and if we get the same $150, what will happen next. We have to warn them now,†said Mr Zhou.He said they have since petitioned their parent Ministry, which yesterday confirmed receiving such a document.
However, Minister Coltart yesterday said he did not have the mandate to divulge what teachers would get this month and referred all questions to Finance Minister Tendai Biti and the Public Service Commission.â€I think the best person to answer their questions would be the Finance Minister as he is the one who presented the budget. I do not know what they would be getting as I am not the one who pays them,†said Minister Coltart.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) president Mrs Tendai Chikoore said her union would meet Government team leaders next week after realising that the rest of the civil service was concerned by the silence shown by Government on salaries.â€If teachers strike, their move will be justified because we have given them enough time to sort out everything. Since the budget was announced, we expected to know what we will be earning and if the issue of being graded has been addressed, but up to now they have been quiet.
“We will meet team leaders from the Government early next week and that is when I will give more details,†said Mrs Chikoore.
An official from the Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said it was high time Government awarded them “viable salaries†as they had been patient for a long time.
“We will soon find it irresistible to embark on an industrial action. Not reporting for duty on Tuesday will be the last resort if Government fails to give us what we want,†said the official.
In recent years, the teachers have been downing tools at the beginning of most terms, but last year, Government managed to prevent a nationwide strike despite not being able to meet the demands laid out by the educators.
Government said it would do everything it could to raise money.
Efforts to get a comment from Finance Minster Tendai Biti were fruitless, as his mobile phone was not reachable.
Presenting the budget proposals last December, Minister Biti said the Government had set aside US$600 million to cater for the civil servants’ salaries.
He said the Government workers would be graded according to rank, skills and experience.