The Apex Council is a body that brings together all civil servants unions in salary negotiations with government. It has been rocked by leadership wrangles following the election of College Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe, David Zvatsunga as chairperson last August.
The Public Service Association boycotted the elections, which they said were unconstitutional and some teacher unions alleged that the former was running a parallel structure in engaging government over salary increments.
In October, the acting secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Rodgers Sisimayi wrote to the civil servants urging them to put their house in order first before they can engage government. On 22 January the Minister of Public Service, Lucia Matibenga, turned down a request by the civil servants to use the old Apex Council leadership and said they should legally reconstitute their body first.
Apex Council Chairperson David Dzatsunga admitted to The Zimbabwean this week that squabbles around the leadership of the Council were retarding progress and said government was now using the issue as an excuse for not awarding better salaries to civil servants.
“Of late, there has been no social dialogue between government and its workers because government is alleging that the Council is divided,” said Dzatsunga.”The way forward is to bridge differences so that we do not give government an excuse on the need for an upward review of salaries.
“We will engage with other unions over the issue and it is my hope that we can address the challenges and speak with one voice.”
Some notable members of the Apex Council include the Zimbabwe Teachers Association, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe and the Teachers Union of Zimbabwe.
ZIMTA Chairperson, Tendai Chikowore concurred with Zvatsunga saying that there was pressing need for a resolution of problems bedeviling the Council.
In December ZIMTA Chief Executive Officer Sifiso Ndlovu told The Zimbabwean that leadership wrangles at Apex needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency as they were impacting negatively on civil servants’ push for better salaries.
The lowest earning government worker in Zimbabwe earns $296,00 at a time the Poverty Datum Line is pegged at $600,00.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe President, Takavafira Zhou said: “The onus is on civil servants to see that government is using some other people to divide them. Workers should know that government is their number one enemy rather than waste time fighting each other.”
Zhou blamed government for lacking sincerity on the issue of salaries for civil servants.
Post published in: News