Mugabe's government swimming against tide

PROGRESSIVE Teachers Union of Zimbabwe's (PTUZ)'s secretary for sports and welfare in the Midlands province, Kennedy Mhuri says that talk about bonus payments is beginning to irritate rather than excite him.

Endless negotiations still taking place three months after bonus payments were supposed to have been paid out, were postponed last week after yet another deadlock, which has further frustrated Mhuri.

"How can we be made to negotiate for our bonus when the year is already over and we are already into another year? I have completely lost hope. They should just tell us that there is no money rather than making false promises when they know that their house is not in order," Mhuri said resignedly.

The latest round of talks between government and civil servants representatives ended in a stalemate after the workers rejected the offers made by their financially struggling employer.

Government had offered three options: To give the civil servants residential stands at no cost, with the government workers paying for development of the land; a cash stipend coupled with unspecified non-monetary benefits; and property investment bonds which would see civil servants get a stake in national capital assets.

But the civil servants spurned the offers.

"As usual, we don't care where they get the money from, even if they get it from the sewage, if they get it from Satan or if they get it from the flooded rivers; We don't care," said Raymond Majongwe, PTUZ secretary general, who was among the negotiators in the talks.

"Our members are saying that those options are not palatable. They are saying we would be digging out own graves if we accept those options," added Majongwe.

Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Union vice president, Gibson Mushangu said: "From the consultations we have had with our membership, we seem to get the message that they do not want those options. They want something which would see them smile all the way to the bank. They are saying they are just waiting for the bonus dates to be announced and nothing else. So as we meet on the 20th of February, we hope government would have revised its offers."

Apex Council president, Ceicilia Alexander, said civil servants were expecting nothing, but cash payments.

The Apex Council is the umbrella civil servants representative body.

"We are looking forward to the meeting on the 20th where we hope we will be furnished with dates as to when the bonus would be paid. We don't want it to be replaced by something else. This once-per-year payment would motivate the dejected civil servants, who have not asked for a salary review for a long time out of understanding of the economic hardships that the country is facing," said Alexander.

The Amalgamated Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) is planning to be even more radical over the bonus issue by calling for a go-slow, which it has threatened to escalate into an all out industrial action.

"We are encouraging all rural teachers at large and all government employees to engage in a go-slow to demand our bonus," said ARTUZ national president, Obert Masaraure.

Ever since 2015 when Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, attempted to scrap bonus payments because he felt government could no longer afford it, the whole issue has become something of a farce.

Chinamasa got a stinging public rebuke from his principal, President Robert Mugabe who announced that bonus would be paid. Still, it took months for all the workers to receive their bonuses, with some workers getting their thirteenth cheque for 2015 mid last year.

Announcing the 2016 Mid-Term Fiscal Policy, Chinamasa again said civil servants' bonuses would be suspended for two years, while their salaries and allowances would be reduced as part of cost-cutting measures.

But Cabinet shot down the proposal.

Despite his colleagues insisting that bonuses be paid, it is now February 2017 and there is no agreement yet as to how the 2016 bonus would be paid.

Zimbabwe is currently under increasing pressure from international funders who are hoping to extend new lines of credit once the country gets its act together.

For instance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants a comprehensive economic transformation plan to ensure the viability of the dollarised Zimbabwean economy.

"The authorities need to take action to streamline public sector wages urgently," IMF deputy spokesman, William Murray, emphasised last week.

Led by Chinamasa, Zimbabwe is currently on a re-engagement mission with lenders following years of isolation from the international community. The country is engaged in a Staff Monitored Programme (SMP) with the IMF to adopt cost-effective measures such as setting aside the bonus payment in order to reduce recurrent expenditure.

The programme is an informal agreement between Harare and the Breton Woods institution to monitor Zimbabwe's economic reforms.

As part of the SMP, Chinamasa is expected to demonstrate government's commitment to eliminate the country's fiscal deficit to reaffirm Zimbabwe's intention to further raise its capacity to repay debts before new funding is unlocked.

Among his priorities has been mobilising resources to ensure that revenue does not only fund a bloated civil service, but also funds programmes that stimulate economic growth without cutting the size of the civil service.

Economist, Prosper Chitambara, warned that if Zimbabwe goes ahead with 2016 bonus payments the impact on the economy would be severe.

"It will widen the fiscal deficit and the domestic debt. It's not sustainable economically. But with elections coming next year, probably government may have to pay so that they enhance their prospects," said Chitambara.