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Felex Share, Harare Bureau
CIVIL servants’ unions yesterday submitted nearly 113 000 names of their members intending to benefit from a residential stands scheme being spearheaded by Government as part of non-monetary incentives for the workers.

This comes amid reports that Cabinet has directed that the stands for the civil servants be pegged at $4 per square metre.

Each worker will have to fork out an additional $1 administration fee.

The workers representative yesterday met officials from the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to submit the names.

The parties then fine-tuned a Memorandum of Understanding which involves three signatories namely Apex Council, the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing and the Urban Development Corporation (Udicorp).

The MoU will be signed next week to pave way for the implementation of the project.

Speaking after the meeting yesterday, Apex Council chairperson Mrs Cecilia Alexander said they had submitted 112 952 names to Government.

She said Harare had 23 483 intended beneficiaries, while Manicaland had 14 275, followed by Midlands (12 887), Mashonaland East (10 125), Bulawayo (9 352), Mashonaland West (9 098), Masvingo (5 938) and Mashonaland Central (9 061).

Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces had a combined 18 733 registered potential beneficiaries.

“The consolidated figures are clear evidence that the scheme has been well received by civil servants,” Mrs Alexander said.

“We have submitted the statistics to the Ministry of Local Government in a technical meeting which was very fruitful. Among other things, we also fine-tuned the MoU which involves three parties. We will sign the MoU next week and also look at the implementation matrix but the technical committee is ready to deliver.”

The numbers of intended beneficiaries submitted yesterday is expected to balloon as Government has expanded the scheme to incorporate all its workers including those who are not members of the Apex Council.

The list would assist Government in allocating land in various cities and towns.

Mrs Alexander said indications from Government officials were that the stands would be affordable.

“In the meeting, we also received information that there has been a directive from Cabinet that the stands will cost $4 dollars per square metre with $1 going towards administration fee to Local Government,” Mrs Alexander said.

“The parties also agreed to the idea of bringing every worker on board. The technical committee has also agreed to include a representative from the CSC. Apex council has since been inclusive by incorporating without conditions lists from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and prisons.”

Housing delivery is one of the key goals of Zim-Asset and Government intends to provide 300 000 units to the people by 2018.

The specific housing scheme will go a long way in cushioning civil servants who have seen many schemes being established in their names but benefitted outsiders and political bigwigs.

This has resulted in many Government workers being duped by land barons.

Apart from housing issues, Government has been regularly informing the workers on the ongoing rationalisation exercise, shift in pay dates, impending introduction of bond notes as well as pension and medical aid benefits.