Civil servants eye stake in indigenisation drive
President Mugabe

President Mugabe

Prosper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
CIVIL servants unions will today meet the Government to submit their proposed salary adjustments in which they seek Poverty Datum Line (PDL) anchored perks and awarding of non-monetary incentives.In an interview yesterday, the president of the Apex Council, an umbrella body representing all civil servants unions, Mr David Dzatsunga, said civil servants union leaders met in

Harare yesterday and crafted the proposed increases following last week’s meeting with the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

“We had a meeting as the Apex Council today where we crafted our position paper on salary adjustments. We will present our proposal to the CSC secretariat tomorrow,” said Mr Dzatsunga, who also chairs the College Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe (Colaz).

“In our proposal we requested the Government to review civil servants salaries considering the PDL. We propose that the lowest paid civil servant be paid $540 per month.

“We also requested the Government to prioritise awarding of the rural allowance. Our technical committee is finalising that and we expect them to be done by the end of the day so that we also submit it tomorrow.”

Mr Dzatsunga said civil servants unions also resolved to lobby the Government to provide non-monetary rewards for civil servants such as land for housing stands.

“We are requesting that the Government avails land for civil servants to build houses as part of non-monetary rewards. The issue of lack of accommodation is one of the major challenges facing Government workers, said Mr Dzatsunga.
He said the unions wanted to know the civil servants’ stake in the indigenisation programme.

“We need clarity on how our members can benefit from this indigenisation programme and the economy in general,” said Mr Dzatsunga.

He also urged the Government to make wide consultations before aligning laws governing the civil service with the new constitution.

“A lot needs to be done to align laws governing the civil servants with the new constitution and we feel the Government should consult us because such legislation affects us,” said Mr Dzatsunga.

The Apex Council is made of different unions such as the Zimbabwe Teachers Union (Zimta), Public Service Association (PSA), Progressive Teachers Association of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ) and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA).

Last week CSC advised civil servants that it had started working on adjusting their salaries and the target was to effect the changes before the end of the year.

The commission asked civil servants to submit their proposals.

President Mugabe has said that the Government is committed to improving the civil servants’ conditions of service.
The lowest paid civil servant gets $296 per month yet the PDL is estimated to be around $580.

CSC chairman Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwa could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Early this year the Government awarded its workers about five percent salary increment but the impact was not significant given the low salaries.

Poor salaries have been blamed for low morale in the Public Service which has resulted in many of the workers failing to perform to expectations.

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