Police, prison services get bonuses

POLICE and members of the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) have received their bonuses as Government sticks to its schedule on the payment of bonuses.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira confirmed the latest development.

The Minister said bonuses were paid last week on Thursday.

"We agreed on the original schedule that bonuses will be paid as per original plan. No changes," the Minister said.

She said Government remains committed to ensuring that civil servants were paid in the same month worked.

Minister Mupfumira said first to get their 13th cheque last month were members of the Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force of Zimbabwe and those in the health sector.

Teachers will get their bonuses in June and the rest of the civil service will be paid in August.

Government has staggered the payment of annual bonuses due to challenges in raising revenue.

In January, Government had offered its workers three payment options to settle the bonuses.

These included residential stands, a cash stipend coupled with non-monetary benefits and property investment bonds.

The civil servants under their umbrella body, the Apex Council, rejected all the options and threatened to embark on industrial action if the promise to pay bonuses was not honoured.

Cash flow challenges have seen Government at times shifting pay dates for civil servants.