The president said civil servants deserved an urgent salary review, a claim repeated by Nicholas Goche, the new Minister of Labour.
The government and civil servants have been on a collision course over salary adjustments for more than a year. The lowest paid civil servants want their earnings to be pegged at above the $502 national poverty datum line. In an interview this week, an official from the Apex Council, a state workers negotiating arm, said they would meet with government representatives on the salary dispute.
“Our mandate is to demand minimum salary, which is above the poverty datum line for the least paid employee,” he said. “We hope that (President) Mugabe will fulfill that promise.”
Previously, Mugabe and Zanu (PF) public blamed former Finance Minister Tendai Biti for refusing to review the salaries of civil servants. Biti maintained that state coffers were dry, unless beefed up by revenues from diamond sales. It remains unclear where the money for salaries will come from given the severe fiscal constraints on Treasury.
Post published in: News