Maziwisa supports Govt's paltry salary increase for Civil Servants

ZANU-PF Deputy Director of Information Psychology Maziwisa has applauded the Public Service Commission for awarding lowly paid civil servants a salary increase of 26.6%.

Government granted the civil servants the 26.6% salary increase against the 300% demand by the workers representatives.

"Government's salary increase of 26,6% to civil servants represents a noble and welcome attempt to improve the welfare of all workers in Zimbabwe and should be seen as a positive step towards the fulfilment of Zanu-PF's election promises," says Maziwisa.

In the run up to the July 31 harmonised general elections President Robert Mugabe more than once guaranteed civil servants that his party was concerned about the welfare and salaries of the public servants and would if elected ensure the workers are paid a minimum wage above the poverty datum line. Zimbabwe's poverty datum line currently stands at $562.00 for a family of six per month. The minimum wage for a Zimbabwean public worker currently stands at $200 per month.

"The government is concerned about the welfare of members of the public service, and will continue to implement strategies aimed at improving their conditions of service," said President Mugabe in his maiden public speech after the July 31 elections at the National Heroes Acre to commemorate Heroes Day.

Prior to the elections President Mugabe had assured civil servants that his government was going to push their wages to around the poverty datum line which was a 300% increase of the current minimum wage. Mugabe said this blaming former Finance Minister Tendai Biti and former Public Service Minister Lucia Mativenga for refusing to bring the public workers' wages to the poverty datum levels.

However, according to Maziwisa, the 26.6% is the best the government could do in the circumstances.

"At $79 (about R800) $5 (about R600) and $98 (about R1000) across all levels, let’s admit that this is hugely commendable and that it is the best government could do in the circumstances." Says Maziwisa.

"Bear in mind also that government must spend what it has and should, at all times, avoid choking the economy with huge bills which it might not be able to sustain in the long term."

Maziwisa goes further to justify the salary increase by saying it is better than what the South African government recently awarded its workers. He also largely blames the opposition MDC T for trying to cause dissatisfaction in the workers by saying that the wage increase is too small.

"Let me remind the MDC-T once again that playing cheap politics will not win them votes, for two reasons. The first is that whatever they might try to do, I've never come across a single urban constituency that loves Zanu-PF and President Mugabe as much as civil servants do. Secondly, even if the MDC-T was able to lure civil servants-about 200 000 in total- to their corner, itself an incredibly unlikely possibility given my earlier remarks, they must remember that President Mugabe won the last election with TWO MILLION votes, not TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND. "

The Apex Group, a Union of all civil servants unions, which was negotiating the salary increases with government has since rejected the proposed increase amid threats that major unions in the public service are calling for mass industrial action against the increase. The biggest grouping of the civil service are the teachers unions who are guaranteed of a new minimum wage of $254 way off the $560 poverty datum line. The teachers unions have been threatening industrial action since June last year.