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Minister Prisca Mupfumira

We can see much progress in the Government’s efforts to fulfil its promise to deliver non-monetary incentives to its workers.

Amid the prevailing depressed economy, the Government is not only battling to improve its workers’ salaries but also to pay them on time.  The average civil servant’s salary is $400 monthly, which is a little sum in our expensive economy, especially for one with a family. The Government has ruled out a salary increase any time soon. As revenue inflows into public coffers continue to slow, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Cde Prisca Mupfumira, from time to time announces civil servants’ pay dates. When she does as she did yesterday, it is big news.

Recognising that the salaries it pays to its workers are low, the Government has seen it fit to complement them with alternative incentives.  The workers have demanded farm land, duty free vehicle imports, and residential stands and so on.  For now, their employer has decided to deliver the third incentive.

This week, the Government set their price at $4 per square metre and the worker would pay an additional $1 for administration fee. A total of  113 000 had, by Wednesday, registered to benefit under the special facility. Harare had 23 483 applicants, Manicaland 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.

Local Government, Public Works and National Housing secretary Engineer George Mlilo made it clear the Government is not giving the stands for free, but will make sure they were affordable.

“The route is that it is a partnership between Government and civil servants where Government will make land available, not for free. As directed by Cabinet, the land will be going for $4 per square metre and an additional dollar will go towards administration fees. The Urban Development Corporation will service the land and all payments will be made through the Salary Services Bureau. Beneficiaries will pay for on-site servicing and off- site servicing. After paying the civil servants will get their title deeds. This facility is not for the Apex Council only, but the entire civil service regardless of grades and affiliation. People will choose the areas they need.”

If each of the 113 000 applicants gets a stand by 2018 and develop them, the Government would, through one scheme, have nearly achieved half its Zim-Asset target of making available 300 000 housing units to the people by that year.  This obviously does not include other housing programmes being run by local authorities and the private sector.

The announcement of the price is an important step which marks progress in the agenda by the employer to fulfil its non-monetary pledge to the employee. At $5 per square metre the stands are way cheaper than the prevailing prices. For example, a 200 square metre stand in most high density suburbs in Bulawayo costs $3 000. This works out to $15 per square metre. A civil servant who buys a stand of the same size under the Government scheme will pay $1 000. On top of that, he has the luxury of paying for it over a longer period.

With the price now out, we look forward to the Government announcing the specific blocks of land in every town, city or growth point that would be sub-divided. This will be yet another marker of progress. State land is abundant across the country so we don’t think there will be a challenge with regards to securing space for the housing initiative. Civil servants expect the Government to move with speed in this respect leading to them being allocated their pieces of land.

When that is done, government employees would be called upon to pay meaningful sums of money towards buying their stands so that they finish the process and get title deeds to their land as soon as possible. We suggest that they decide to pay off over a maximum of a year. If this is so, one who chooses a 200 square metre stand valued at $1 000 would have to pay something like                                                                                                  $83 monthly. In 12 months, he is done and is given title deeds.

Civil servants will appreciate that owning a residential stand doesn’t mean much if they lack resources to develop that piece of land. It will be challenging for beneficiaries to set aside much money from their $400 monthly salaries to build habitable structures quickly. This is  where affordable mortgage financing becomes critical.

The good thing is that with title deeds civil servants can approach building societies for loans.  They will not need to pay any security deposit on borrowing since their title deeds are sufficient collateral. The National Building Society should be the natural choice for many as the institution’s terms and conditions are the best on the market so far.

Therefore, civil servants should be pleased with what their employer is doing on housing delivery but they also have an obligation to play a part for their dreams to materialise.