CHENGETAI ZVAUYA
The strike by civil servants flopped yesterday after a handful turned up for the demonstration amid claims by organisers of victimisation.
Apex Council, a representative of 230 000 government workers, proposed work-stoppage in light of rising inflation which has wiped out the minimum salary of ZWL$1000 for civil servants.
There was heavy presence by anti-riot police officers who cordoned the roads in the city leading to government offices where workers wanted to handover the petition to Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube and his Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare counterpart Sekesai Nzenza.
Only Apex Council leadership led by chairperson Cecilia Alexander and secretary general, David Dzatsunga, were among handful workers who were demonstrating under the watchful eye of the police.
Dzatsunga said civil servants now want the lowest paid to be remunerated US$475 equivalent at the prevailing inter-market bank rate in the face of the spiralling cost of living. The bread basket for a family of six is now pegged at ZWL$4 000.
‘’We want government to adjust our salaries to the interbank rate so that they are in tandem with October 2017 salaries of USD $475 for the lowest paid worker,” Dzatsunga told Business Times, adding that the workers’ body had been cleared by the police for the strike.
Dzatsunga said Apex Council was apolitical and was pushing the cause of the workers to have a better salary which could enable them to survive with their families.
‘’We know that the civil servants wanted to come and join us in the demonstrations but stayed away for fearing the presence of the police who have come to monitor the demonstration. We have made our statement to government with the few workers who have come to the demonstration,’’ Dzatsunga said.
“As Apex we shall continue to be engaging government for a review of salaries which have been affected by the inflation in the country.”
He said government had informed them it had no capacity to review the civil servants’ salaries until January next year as it is financially broke. The government is currently facing a job strike from the medical doctors who have not been reporting for work for the past two months citing incapacitation.
Treasury has promised a cost of living adjustment allowances for its workers to cushion them against the inflation which is eroding workers’ income.
Civil servants, through the Apex Council, last week gave notice that it was to embark on a job action this week as the ravaging inflation had wiped out their salaries.
