{"id":290902,"date":"2010-02-07T22:09:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T03:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-1595285139165514368"},"modified":"2010-02-07T22:09:01","modified_gmt":"2010-02-08T03:09:01","slug":"zimbabwe-civil-servants-down-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/290902","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe Civil Servants Down Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe with First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe during their arrival at the National Heroes’ Day commemoration on August 13, 2007. The holiday is designed to honour those who fought for the national liberation of the country.<\/a>
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

Civil servants down tools<\/p>\n

Herald Reporters<\/p>\n

Civil servants yesterday declared a nationwide strike demanding a minimum salary of US$630 per month.<\/p>\n

The strike is with immediate effect and comes after a meeting between civil servants\u2019 representatives and the Government ended in deadlock yesterday evening.<\/p>\n

The civil service strike, which had already been declared before the meeting, is the first since the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Government yesterday offered a minimum salary of US$137 and a top proposal of US$248 backdated to January.<\/p>\n

Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro told unions that the extra allocation of US$4 million for all civil servants that he had offered on Tuesday was still on the table, but would this time be dished out immediately and not in April.<\/p>\n

He said the money would be used to give State employees US$8 and US$7 as housing and transport allowances respectively.<\/p>\n

After the meeting, Minister Mukonoweshuro said: “The new offer has been unveiled and I am informed by officers from my ministry that the staff associations said it is not sufficient.<\/p>\n

“Consultations are still going on and when we finish we will call for another meeting.”<\/p>\n

Addressing a joint rally that brought together unions representing different arms of the civil service in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwe Teachers\u2019 Associa-tion president Mrs Tendai Chikore said they had given the Government sufficient time to address their grievances.<\/p>\n

She accused the Government of not showing commitment to resolving the crisis, saying dialogue had failed to break the impasse.<\/p>\n

“The issue of remuneration has been neglected by the employer for many years.<\/p>\n

“Government has been taking us for granted and now we are saying enough is enough,” said Mrs Chikore.<\/p>\n

She blasted the inclusive Government saying since its inception in February last year, the conditions for civil service had not improved despite several pledges from some high-ranking public office holders.<\/p>\n

During the decade of sanctions and economic hardships, civil servants never declared a strike but have now done so on the inclusive Government\u2019s first anniversary.<\/p>\n

“Allow me to give a graphical picture of this: when the GNU was formed we rejoiced as we thought it was the political panacea to our socio-politico and economic challenges but today we wonder whether this was a correct premise,” added Mrs Chikore.<\/p>\n

Speaking a few hours after his swearing-in last year, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai pledged massive salary increments for civil servants.<\/p>\n

He also told a rally in Manicaland that he held the “key” to unlock resources that would see civil servants\u2019 working conditions improve.<\/p>\n

The promise has not been fulfilled to date with Finance Minister Tendai Biti on a number of occasions telling State employees that Treasury has no money and he cannot “squeeze water from a stone”.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, soon after it became clear civil servants were ready to strike, Minister Biti said: “Government is not a productive sector . . . Our revenue levels remain depressed. We cannot draw water from a stone.”<\/p>\n

A day earlier, Minister Mukonowe-shuro had offered civil servants a modest April increment.<\/p>\n

Also addressing yesterday\u2019s rally,<\/p>\n

Progressive Teachers\u2019 Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said “desperate times called for desperate measures”.<\/p>\n

He said: “We have been neglected for so long and we have become a soft target for alternative saving options in Government spending.<\/p>\n

“Time has come for us to unite against our employer,” Mr Majongwe said.<\/p>\n

Teachers\u2019 Union of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Manuel Nyawo added: “With the little we are getting obviously we were not delivering quality service and so all civil servants countrywide, let\u2019s work in unison and see how they will react.”<\/p>\n

Union leaders tried to persuade their members to avoid declaring a strike until after the meeting with Government.<\/p>\n

However, the gathered crowds demanded an immediate declaration.<\/p>\n

Public Service Association president Mrs Cecilia Alexander said: “The people have spoken . . . their patience has been overstretched and so we have to follow the wishes of the masses.”<\/p>\n

One of the civil servants told The Herald: “I don\u2019t know if it is lack of seriousness or if these ministers are just insensitive.<\/p>\n

“Biti always brushes us off saying he has no money and Mukonoweshuro comes and offers us a pittance.<\/p>\n

“We are professionals and we demand to be treated as such.”<\/p>\n

In Harare scores of teachers immediately left their work stations.<\/p>\n

A survey conducted by The Herald showed that teachers reported for duty in the morning but later deserted classes and ordered pupils to return home<\/p>\n

“We were told to go back home when we reported for school in the morning,” said a pupil at Chinembiri Government Primary School in Highfield.<\/p>\n

“We were told to go home. Teachers are on strike,” said another pupil at Chengu Primary School in the same suburb.<\/p>\n

There was no sign of activity at Shiriyedenga Primary School in Glen Norah.<\/p>\n

Pupils at Kundai Primary School (Glen Norah) also said their teachers had gone on strike.<\/p>\n

The same situation prevailed at Budiriro 2 Primary School with a senior teacher saying his colleagues had reported for duty in the morning but later left.<\/p>\n

The headmaster of Glen View 2 Primary School, who identified himself as Mr Madzimure, was taking care of the pupils after teachers left their work stations.<\/p>\n

However, at Glen View 2 High School classes went on as normal.<\/p>\n

“All teachers reported for duty and conducted lessons,” said a Form 3 pupil.<\/p>\n

Teachers reported for duty and conducted lessons at Besa and Murape primary and secondary schools, which was the same for Madamombe, all in Seke.<\/p>\n

The teachers said they were unaware that their unions had called for a strike.<\/p>\n

“All our teachers reported for duty as usual today and conducted lessons,” said a Murape Secondary School pupil.<\/p>\n

The strike extended to the courts.<\/p>\n

At midday, the main entrances to the Supreme and the High Courts had been locked.<\/p>\n

However, the Master of the High Court, Mr Charles Nyatanga, was at work as were other senior officers.<\/p>\n

But it was business as usual at the Harare Civil Court along Fourth Street.<\/p>\n

The majority of civil servants are earning about US$160 monthly after Finance Minister Biti allocated US$600 million for their 2010 salaries budget.
<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe with First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe during their arrival at the National Heroes’ Day commemoration on August 13, 2007. The holiday is designed to honour those who fought for the national liberation of the country.Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos Civil servants down tools Herald Reporters Civil servants yesterday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}