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'Civil servants were not supposed to be given bonuses,' says Biti
18 Dec 2013 at 06:14hrs | Views
Former Finance minister, Tendai Biti says government's decision to award civil servants bonuses at a time the country is hard pressed will further strain the deteriorating economy.
"The bonus is a right of the public worker and therefore should be honoured. But the bonus goes beyond a mere fiscal obligation. It is the source of huge aggregate demand that has sustained industries in the last few years," said Biti.
"Let us resolve the crisis of legitimacy - skewed expenditure patterns. Let us go back to the principles of eat what you kill, go back to supply side economics and engage the international community - not only Beijing and Hong Kong, but we must also engage the European Union and South Africa. Unfortunately though, all these countries want economic stability and political hygiene."
He said that with government's wage bill totalling close to $300 million, civil servants salaries for the months of November and December meant a cash injection of almost $900 million.
"Government is in de-facto shutdown because the government income is not sufficient to pay the wage bill. Monthly accumulations of domestic arrears, electricity bills and drugs are not being paid and domestic debt will be around $1 billion," said Biti.
"The danger line is a situation whereby for the first time in the history of this country, by early next year, government is going to fail to pay public servants' wages in the month they are supposed to pay, and we are going to have a new lexicon in Zimbabwe of stagnation of salaries in 2014."
At the moment, Civil servants unions are demanding a 100 percent salary hike for their members which if effected will take the annual salary bill to $5.2 billion for the 230 000 civil servants.
Meanwhile, civil servants' unions met in Harare for more than seven hours but failed to come up with nine substantive negotiators to second to the National Joint Negotiating Council, a platform they meet with Government for salary talks.
Infighting among the unions deepened with labour leaders failing to agree on the number of seats each body should get on the Apex Council. Government on Monday gave the unions a 48-hour ultimatum to come up with the list or risk having salaries imposed on them by the employer.
The ultimatum expires today (Wednesday) The Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), the Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ) and the College Lecturers' Association of Zimbabwe (Colaz) accused the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) and the Public Service Association (PSA) of being selfish as they each wanted three seats out of the nine available.
There are 12 civil servants unions battling for seats. Zimta and PSA however, dismissed the allegations, saying some of the union leaders that wanted to represent civil servants were "generals without any army" as they did not have a significant membership base to speak of.
"The bonus is a right of the public worker and therefore should be honoured. But the bonus goes beyond a mere fiscal obligation. It is the source of huge aggregate demand that has sustained industries in the last few years," said Biti.
"Let us resolve the crisis of legitimacy - skewed expenditure patterns. Let us go back to the principles of eat what you kill, go back to supply side economics and engage the international community - not only Beijing and Hong Kong, but we must also engage the European Union and South Africa. Unfortunately though, all these countries want economic stability and political hygiene."
He said that with government's wage bill totalling close to $300 million, civil servants salaries for the months of November and December meant a cash injection of almost $900 million.
"Government is in de-facto shutdown because the government income is not sufficient to pay the wage bill. Monthly accumulations of domestic arrears, electricity bills and drugs are not being paid and domestic debt will be around $1 billion," said Biti.
"The danger line is a situation whereby for the first time in the history of this country, by early next year, government is going to fail to pay public servants' wages in the month they are supposed to pay, and we are going to have a new lexicon in Zimbabwe of stagnation of salaries in 2014."
At the moment, Civil servants unions are demanding a 100 percent salary hike for their members which if effected will take the annual salary bill to $5.2 billion for the 230 000 civil servants.
Meanwhile, civil servants' unions met in Harare for more than seven hours but failed to come up with nine substantive negotiators to second to the National Joint Negotiating Council, a platform they meet with Government for salary talks.
Infighting among the unions deepened with labour leaders failing to agree on the number of seats each body should get on the Apex Council. Government on Monday gave the unions a 48-hour ultimatum to come up with the list or risk having salaries imposed on them by the employer.
The ultimatum expires today (Wednesday) The Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), the Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ) and the College Lecturers' Association of Zimbabwe (Colaz) accused the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) and the Public Service Association (PSA) of being selfish as they each wanted three seats out of the nine available.
There are 12 civil servants unions battling for seats. Zimta and PSA however, dismissed the allegations, saying some of the union leaders that wanted to represent civil servants were "generals without any army" as they did not have a significant membership base to speak of.
Source - dailynews
