Zimbabwe's has about 150 000 state workers. Incredibly, they all earn
the same a miserly US100 (R1 000) shopping voucher a month.
The rest of their pay is made up of worthless Zimbabwe dollars.
In the police and army, everyone is getting US100, said Lovemore Matombo, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
Matombo said he was aware that teachers were planning to go on strike to press for better wages.
Last month, teachers accepted the vouchers as a temporary solution. Initially they were demanding US2 300 a month.
The Congress of Trade Unions said it was pressing the month-old inclusive government to pay salaries in US dollars or in Rands.
But the labour body said it was less than optimistic about an amicable resolution.
This is a crisis, said Matombo. What we hear is that the government has no money.
Education Minister David Coltart told the state-controlled media at the
weekend that Zimbabwe would have to rely on donors to meet teachers'
pay demands.
Coltart said the teachers' demands were difficult to meet because the
government was battling to find money to fund the shopping vouchers.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Tendai Biti revised the country's
budget and cut the government's planned spending by US500-million to
US1-billion. The only trouble was there was no money in the treasury.
The government is dead broke, said Matombo.
Even members of parliament are earning US100 a month.
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday returned home from
South Africa, where he was recuperating from injuries suffered in the
car crash that killed his wife, Susan. He was expected to chair a
cabinet meeting this morning in Harare amid rising tension among civil
servants over low pay.
The Times (SA)
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