Zimbabweans are overpaid - Callisto Jokonya

The past president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) Mr Callisto Jokonya says that Zimbabweans are over paid and are the highest paid workers in the region.

Speaking at a live Voice of America programme Studio 7's Live Talk on Friday evening, Mr Jokonya said that compared to the wage paid in the region Zimbabwean workers especially civil servants are the highest paid. Reacting to a question from programme director Blessing Zulu on a budget discussion why the government wage bill was gobbling a massive 70% of the country's revenue, Mr Jokonya insisted and repeated that the salaries paid to civil servants were too high and needed to be reviewed downwards.

"If you look at the salaries paid to workers in the region, Zimbabweans are paid the highest salaries and that is affecting government expenditure. Salaries must only take not more than 30% of government revenue." Said the rather fuming industrialists.

Mr Jokonya's call comes at a time when government is at a collision course with its workers over salary increases. The current average wage of a civil servant in Zimbabwe is us$300 which is way below the poverty datum line pegged at us$540. In their last call to government in October, the Zimbabwe Teachers' Union was demanding a 300% salary increase to peg minimum wage of a government paid teacher of us$1000.

A Zimbabwean teacher identified as Ms Sithobekile Mpofu who is employed as a Maths teacher by the Gauten Department of Education at a government school in South Africa stated that her salary is currently R18 000 about us$1 800 which is six times what the Zimbabwean teacher is paid. A similar figure was given by another Zimbabwean who refused to be named but is employed as an Accounting Officer by Johannesburg Water a department in the City of Johannesburg.

A Zimbabwean teacher based in rural Matebeleland North identified as Thulani Ndlovu was not kind to Mr Jokonya's sentiment. "We know that as part of the cartel of thieves in senior positions Jokonya is amongst the $40 000 per month group and he thinks that all of us are like him. I get a net salary of +/-265 every month and someone full of food in his mouth has the guts to say I am over paid, this is a huge insult to our patience to government. We are only afraid of being beaten by black boots (ZRP Support Unit) otherwise one day soon we will fill the streets to they offices so they know we are under paid and unhappy" fumed Ndlovu.

Speaking in the same programme a caller identified only as Mkoma Tinashe in Harare blasted Mr Jokonya for not being realistic in his assessments of the Zimbabwean situation. Mr Jokonya went on a huge praise of the widely condemned budget presented by Minister Patrick Chinamasa on Thursday.