Attempts to incite civil servants failed

A few days before the much vaunted call for Evan Mawarire's stay away, there were hysterical efforts by the shadowy groups to incite civil servants to join the futile job action. That was a complete dud!

The shadowy groups were aware that their previous stay away had a modicum of success just because it coincided with that of the civil servants who were protesting against a delay in payment of their June salaries. However, the civil servants themselves had to distance themselves from the politically motivated stay away initiated by Mawarire and his colleagues.
 
The Apex Council leader, Mrs Cecilia Alexander said: "The council informs the employer and the nation that the current civil service job is completely non-political and non-partisan and should be in no way be associated with the cause by other political and social groups whose agendas have nothing to do with our labour disputes with Government."

 The civil servants have since called off their job action after Government paid teachers and health workers. It came to the realization of the shadowy groups that without the participation of civil servants, the so-called shutdown would dismally flop. Many people have also argued that the shutdown without Government workers was set to drearily flop. Everybody was waiting to see if the so-called national shutdown would succeed.

The shadowy groups realized at the eleventh hour that the civil servants would not participate in their hopeless shutdown. It dawned on them that the shutdown was heading for doom. Thus, they crafted cunning ways of inveigling Government workers into joining their abortive shutdown. The issue of salaries was the target. It was hoped that by seasoning the salary issue with mendacity, the civil servants would spring into action.

The private media, which are declared accomplices in the regime change project, misrepresented President Mugabe's statement on civil servants. The President is said to have slighted civil servants during a rally in Bindura last week. In its report on the Bindura rally headlined 'You don't understand: President tells civil servants,' the Dailynews issue of 9 July 2016 sensationally began the story as "President Robert Mugabe yesterday insulted restless civil servants by claiming they did not understand…"

But did the President really insulted civil servants? People are free at this juncture, to summon all versions of dictionaries and see if president's statement amounts to insult.

"You are hearing many in government complaining that they are not being paid on time, that is true but we should remember that we are yet to shake off some problems. We are not yet a developed nation. We have sanctions, the Americans have not removed them and the Europeans only partially removed them. We use the dollar not and it is not printed here but in America.

"Tirikuti inhamo yemazuva ano chete (these are just temporary setbacks), we don't want doctors, nurses, teachers to strike. They are not being told that they will not get their salaries but those are postponements but they don't understand," said President Mugabe.

That statement sounds like edification to our civil servants on the economic situation in the country, which the civil servants, as enlightened members of society, are expected to have a better appreciation. The media abused the polysemantic nature of the word understand. The President was simply telling a plain truth that civil servants did not understand the challenges bedeviling the nation. One good thing though is the President's acknowledgement of the delay in payment of civil servants salaries. Unsolicited admission of failure is a rare virtue in politicians.

Just a day before the botched shutdown which was also a day after the National Joint Negotiating Council met, both the Newsday and the Dailynews carried inflammatory stories where they fabricated the outcome of that meeting.

 "Govt, civil servants in fresh salary stalemate," screamed the Newsday. Not to be bested, its partner in the regime change project, the Dailynews' title on the story was "Anger as gvt fails to announce July pay dates." There was no anger neither was there fresh stalemate.
Both articles were quite stirring and seditious. They tried to create an impression that Government is once again going to fail to pay its workers on time. The national shutdown was said to have forced Government to push forward the pay dates of health workers and the rest of the civil servants from 14 July to 8 and 13 July 2016 respectively. Thus, the intention was to cajole civil servants to mount pressure on Government through the shutdown so that it pays the July salaries on time.

The truth of the matter is that Government allayed fears of July salaries in that meeting and the representatives of the civil servants were happy with the engagement. "The meeting was positive and we wait for the July salaries as promised," said Richard Gundane, the President of Zimbabwe Teachers Association.

They also attempted to stir up civil servants and other workers through the generation of fake memorandums and documents. For example, there was a phony salary schedule that was extensively circulated on social media. The cooked up pay dates range from 4 August to 5 September. Unfortunately civil servants can see through such machinations. Government has already assured civil servants that it would revert to normal pay dates.

They also forged internal memoranda from Econet Wireless and Delta Beverages which advised workers not to report for work on 13 and 14 July due to perceived looming violence. However, the two corporations distanced themselves from the memorandum and it was business as usual at these firms. Since these two firms have the largest number of employees, a favourable response to their fake memorandum would score another success for them.

It is high time that the benefactors of these subversive projects face reality and accept that protests have failed to oust a legitimate Zanu PF Government. The noise that engulfed Rotten Row courts will not help them in any way. The numbers are not a miracle. These were just a bunch of all opposition supporters.