Opinion / Columnist
Stay aways: Civil servants should guard against being used
12 Jul 2016 at 10:19hrs | Views
Some few days ago Zimbabwe witnessed some demonstrations in Beitbridge and the surrounding areas which were carried out by some alleged cross border traders after the government through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce promulgated Statutory Instrument Number 64 of 2016 which sought to regulate the importation of basic commodities and building materials in the country.
That SI number 64 came as a surprise to the importers of basic commodities and building materials as the implementation of it by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) at some border posts was viewed as a ban to the importation of such goods. For that reasons demonstrations by the alleged cross border traders against that SI number 64 of 2016 ensued. Chaos reared its ugly head at the Beitbridge border post with traffic movements coming to a halt.
The Zimra`s warehouse was burnt in Beitbridge during those demonstrations and some opposition political groups and civil society organisations rushed to take that as a precedence to mount other demonstrations across the country. In Harare on Monday 4 July 2016, some eastern suburbs like Mabvuku, Ruwa as well as Epworth were engrossed by demonstrations led by commuter omnibus drivers and touts who were demonstrating against the Zimbabwe Republic Police(ZRP)`s road blocks mounted daily. On the other hand government was also in an awkward position as it failed to pay some civil servants their salaries timeously. Such a failure by government to pay some civil servants timeously coupled by the introduction of the SI number 64 made some pseudo political activists and some opposition political parties to call for the stayaways from work by both public and private sector workers.
Some pseudo political activists like Evan Mawarire with his #ThisFlag campaign as well as Promise Mkwananzi-led #Tajamuka/Sijikile group high-jacked those demonstrations and called for the so called total "shut down" of Zimbabwe through stay aways from work by workers. Mawarire and Mkwananzi used some social medial communication channels like Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube to spread their shenanigans across the country. For that reason on Wednesday 6 July 2016 some of the gullible civil servants heeded their calls and failed to come to work despite the fact that the government had promised them that the delay in the payments of their salaries was something which was not going to be repeated. It was made clear by the government that civil servants would get their salaries normally starting this July 2016.
It is surprising that some civil servants who have been finding it prudent to negotiate with government whenever there was mismatch of ideas with the government would find themselves hoodwinked by those pseudo political activists into heeding their calls for stay aways. Zimbabweans should be aware that the country is facing one of its worst economic problems in the history of this country hence the delay in the payment of salaries could not have triggered either demonstrations or stay aways. For the past five months government has been trying to raise funds for the payment of both the salaries and some 2015 bonuses for some civil servants leaving the government coffers dwindled. So government employees could have known this and distanced themselves from that Mawarire and Mkwananzi fiasco.
While some civil servants have some genuine reasons that government have not been able to pay them their salaries timeously but could that be reasonable enough for them to stay away from work just because some pseudo activists have urged them not to report to work through social media. Could that make any sense on the part of those civil servants to heed some information channelled through the social media as if there are no official communications meant for them?
It should be known that some civil servants get instructions from their superiors through normal communication channels as they are represented by the Apex council. All along the Apex council knows quite well that any communication with government could only be done either through direct communication using telephone calls, interpersonal communication or circulars. There is no genuine communication meant for some civil servants that can be through social media channels unless otherwise. As such some civil servants should not be used like toys by those pseudo political activists in urging them to join their stay aways.
It boggles the mind to find out that some civil servants were hoodwinked into joining the call by Mawarire and company to stay away from work yet the Apex council did not originate any communication concerning that. While Mawarire and Mkwananzi were calling for the total shutdown of Zimbabwe saying that the government has failed to act against corruption and also failing to create employment for the unemployed, some civil servants were calling for government to pay them their salaries timeously. So their difference in grievances between some pseudo political activists and some civil servants meant that they were not supposed to have combined their efforts and cause the country to record lower numbers of those who came to work on Wednesday 6 July 2016.
In future civil servants should guard against being used by those nameless and faceless social media communication channels as there could be a danger for some of them to be used for nothing only to get blacklisted at work. Government has not reneged on its promises to the payment of salaries to the civil servants hence there is no need for the government workers to act as if they are also political activists. Their grievances of getting delayed payment of their salaries has been explained by government and those with ears should accept what the government has been doing.
Actually some civil servants should thank the government for frantically, making sure that they get their salaries fully although coming a bit late. It is known and accepted that the economic problems that the country has been experiencing for more than a decade now has been caused by the sanctions imposed on the country by the western world. For that reason some civil servants should bear with government as it struggles monthly to make sure that they are paid their salaries despite economic hardships being experienced in the county.
Listening and heeding Mawarire and Mkwananzi on their call for another so called "total shutdown" of Zimbabwe by some civil servants would not make any good to the economic revival of the country. Zimbabwe is in dire needs of foreign direct investments hence some demonstrations and some stay aways has the danger of scaring some investors away hence foreign direct investment flops. This writer knows quite well that everyone has a freedom to do what he/she wants but stay always from work by government employees is tantamount to economic sabotage. So civil servants should desist from doing some demonstrations and stay aways as the government would always pay them fully their salaries.
That SI number 64 came as a surprise to the importers of basic commodities and building materials as the implementation of it by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) at some border posts was viewed as a ban to the importation of such goods. For that reasons demonstrations by the alleged cross border traders against that SI number 64 of 2016 ensued. Chaos reared its ugly head at the Beitbridge border post with traffic movements coming to a halt.
The Zimra`s warehouse was burnt in Beitbridge during those demonstrations and some opposition political groups and civil society organisations rushed to take that as a precedence to mount other demonstrations across the country. In Harare on Monday 4 July 2016, some eastern suburbs like Mabvuku, Ruwa as well as Epworth were engrossed by demonstrations led by commuter omnibus drivers and touts who were demonstrating against the Zimbabwe Republic Police(ZRP)`s road blocks mounted daily. On the other hand government was also in an awkward position as it failed to pay some civil servants their salaries timeously. Such a failure by government to pay some civil servants timeously coupled by the introduction of the SI number 64 made some pseudo political activists and some opposition political parties to call for the stayaways from work by both public and private sector workers.
Some pseudo political activists like Evan Mawarire with his #ThisFlag campaign as well as Promise Mkwananzi-led #Tajamuka/Sijikile group high-jacked those demonstrations and called for the so called total "shut down" of Zimbabwe through stay aways from work by workers. Mawarire and Mkwananzi used some social medial communication channels like Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube to spread their shenanigans across the country. For that reason on Wednesday 6 July 2016 some of the gullible civil servants heeded their calls and failed to come to work despite the fact that the government had promised them that the delay in the payments of their salaries was something which was not going to be repeated. It was made clear by the government that civil servants would get their salaries normally starting this July 2016.
It is surprising that some civil servants who have been finding it prudent to negotiate with government whenever there was mismatch of ideas with the government would find themselves hoodwinked by those pseudo political activists into heeding their calls for stay aways. Zimbabweans should be aware that the country is facing one of its worst economic problems in the history of this country hence the delay in the payment of salaries could not have triggered either demonstrations or stay aways. For the past five months government has been trying to raise funds for the payment of both the salaries and some 2015 bonuses for some civil servants leaving the government coffers dwindled. So government employees could have known this and distanced themselves from that Mawarire and Mkwananzi fiasco.
While some civil servants have some genuine reasons that government have not been able to pay them their salaries timeously but could that be reasonable enough for them to stay away from work just because some pseudo activists have urged them not to report to work through social media. Could that make any sense on the part of those civil servants to heed some information channelled through the social media as if there are no official communications meant for them?
It boggles the mind to find out that some civil servants were hoodwinked into joining the call by Mawarire and company to stay away from work yet the Apex council did not originate any communication concerning that. While Mawarire and Mkwananzi were calling for the total shutdown of Zimbabwe saying that the government has failed to act against corruption and also failing to create employment for the unemployed, some civil servants were calling for government to pay them their salaries timeously. So their difference in grievances between some pseudo political activists and some civil servants meant that they were not supposed to have combined their efforts and cause the country to record lower numbers of those who came to work on Wednesday 6 July 2016.
In future civil servants should guard against being used by those nameless and faceless social media communication channels as there could be a danger for some of them to be used for nothing only to get blacklisted at work. Government has not reneged on its promises to the payment of salaries to the civil servants hence there is no need for the government workers to act as if they are also political activists. Their grievances of getting delayed payment of their salaries has been explained by government and those with ears should accept what the government has been doing.
Actually some civil servants should thank the government for frantically, making sure that they get their salaries fully although coming a bit late. It is known and accepted that the economic problems that the country has been experiencing for more than a decade now has been caused by the sanctions imposed on the country by the western world. For that reason some civil servants should bear with government as it struggles monthly to make sure that they are paid their salaries despite economic hardships being experienced in the county.
Listening and heeding Mawarire and Mkwananzi on their call for another so called "total shutdown" of Zimbabwe by some civil servants would not make any good to the economic revival of the country. Zimbabwe is in dire needs of foreign direct investments hence some demonstrations and some stay aways has the danger of scaring some investors away hence foreign direct investment flops. This writer knows quite well that everyone has a freedom to do what he/she wants but stay always from work by government employees is tantamount to economic sabotage. So civil servants should desist from doing some demonstrations and stay aways as the government would always pay them fully their salaries.
Source - Mukachana Hanyani
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