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Addressing business executives during a national budget consultative meeting in Bulawayo last Friday, Minister Biti said the Government intends to review the salaries of civil servants during the 2011 budget presentation in November.
But civil servants who have for the past six months been inviting the Government to the negotiating table said there was a body mandated with discussing their salaries and Minister Biti had pre-empted everything.
They said if the Government was sincere, it would have called the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) where they would be told of the situation.
The civil servants also insisted they wanted a written agreement with the Government before the budget announcement to avoid shock on the day of the presentation.
In an interview, Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu said the Government has on many occasions hidden behind challenges pertaining to resource mobilisation.
“What the minister did is pre-empting what should have been said in the NJNC. It is unfortunate that he decided to talk about the matter in public yet there are bodies mandated by the Government to communicate with the civil servants,” said Mr Ndlovu.
“They cannot continue to lie to the nation and say they will go and mobilise resources. They should know that we have a workers’ committee and stop misleading us through the Press.
“They should tell us what they are offering and we agree on the amount before the budget presentation. We do not want to be shocked on the day of the presentation.”
Public Service Association (PSA) executive secretary Mr Emmanuel Tichareva said a salary review in November would be too late.
“We are eager to meet the Government face to face. Recently we had a briefing with Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro (the Minister of Public Service) where he promised a meeting in a week but nothing of that sort ever happened,” said Mr Tichareva.
“It will be too late (for a November salary review) because we have been waiting for the past six months. We can revisit our strategy and hold demonstrations every Friday.”
Mr Tichareva said there was need for the Government and civil servants to negotiate on the salaries. “We have to meet and discuss the review that they are talking about if at all it is there,” he said.
In his address in Bulawayo, Minister Biti said the Government was taking seriously the issue of civil servants’ wages. He said the Government intended to award civil servants decent salaries in the 2011 budget, adding that their bonuses would be paid.
Ten days ago, thousands of civil servants took to the streets of Harare in protest against delays by the Government in reviewing their salaries and improving working conditions.
During the protests, Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Mr Raymond Majongwe said the demonstration was a warning to the Government of more industrial action should it fail to review salaries and working conditions within 30 days.
Civil servants are earning between US$150 and US$250 monthly.