Zimpapers Logo

Mr Sifiso Ndlovu

Pamela Shumba  Chronicle Reporter
CIVIL servants yesterday blasted Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) executives for awarding themselves hefty salaries and urged government to come up with guidelines on salaries for all State enterprises.The remarks come after revelations that since September last year PSMAS chief executive officer Cuthbert Dube had been taking home $230,000 as his basic salary, while remuneration for 13 other executives ranged between $15,000 for the CEO’s personal assistant to $200,000.

A majority of PSMAS members are civil servants. Speaking in separate interviews yesterday, civil servants unions’ representatives said they were disappointed that PSMAS was spending millions of dollars on salaries at the expense of beneficiaries who were not getting satisfactory services.

Public Service Association President Cecilia Alexander said government should constantly monitor state enterprises in order to quickly detect abuse of office.

“We are disappointed as workers and people who contribute to PSMAS. It is shocking that there are people who earn such huge salaries that are totally divorced from the performance of our economy,” she said.

Alexander said it was important for civil servants to be represented in the parastatals’ boards.
“There was a time when PSMAS was under PSA but this arrangement was hijacked.  We must go back to that arrangement to protect public funds and the interest of the workers.  Civil servants have suffered for a long time while people are busy abusing their money,” said Alexander.

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) spokesperson Enock Paradzai said:
“This is not fair. I hope government will act quickly to sort out this mess. Civil servants, especially teachers working in the rural areas are the worst affected because they sometimes fail to access medication  while some people feast on their hard earned money.”

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu said corrective measures should be taken to improve the administration at PSMAS.

“The governance of the PSMAS board is questionable and this calls for government intervention. The issue of salaries needs to be regularised at all public institutions,” said Ndlovu.

He said the hefty salaries awarded to PSMAS executives exposed the weakness of its board. Meanwhile, Affirmative Action Group (AAG) vice-president Sam Ncube said hefty salaries defeated the purpose of the empowerment programme.

“The country’s empowerment programme is meant to benefit all in the country not a handful of greedy people. This is tantamount to economic sabotage,” Ncube said.

“Even if you go to South Africa, which has a sound economy, you will not find people getting such huge salaries. Surely the government must do something to end this madness.”

Government has promised to act on the hefty salaries.