The agreement, reached between the Finance Minister and the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, is being described as shocking and inadequate in the face of soaring inflation and a recent currency devaluation.
The Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Mthuli Ncube, attempted to justify the decision, stating, “So how do we then make sure that our civil servants are paid adequately? Any country which pays their workers more than 12% of GDP, that economy is in trouble.”
He further explained the government’s rationale, saying, “So we have adhered to it, we have agreed to it. So we say to the Finance minister, go and calculate, sometime, maybe, you can go a little bit beyond that, but let us remain within the 12% of GDP.”
This explanation, however, has been met with widespread disbelief and anger.
Minister Ncube’s justification hinges on linking civil servant salaries to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He argued that the government’s productivity is measured by GDP growth, stating, “As a government, unlike you, who can measure your productivity in another way? It is who we measure our productivity by, the GDP. So the productivity of all of the government, parliament, and judiciary everybody, is to save the economy. And we measure our productivity by the growth of GDP.”
He further asserted that rising GDP would naturally lead to higher salaries, using the analogy of a business’s turnover and employee compensation. However, this argument fails to address the immediate concerns of civil servants grappling with the realities of a depreciating currency and escalating living costs.
The paltry US$40 increment has been met with fierce opposition from teachers’ unions, who view it as a slap in the face. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president, Takavafira Zhou, highlighted the long-standing need for a salary review, stating that the issue was outstanding since April 2024.
He underscored the severe impact of the September currency devaluation, saying, “Civil servants, therefore, deserve an adjustment to their salaries in line with the depreciation in ZiG first, and a salary review, second. That civil servants did not get an adjustment of the ZiG component and neither did they get a salary increase, is baffling and nauseating.”
Zhou pointed out that the combined US dollar and ZiG allowance after September 2024 is less valuable than the pre-devaluation salary.
He further criticised the government’s unilateral approach to salary negotiations, stating, “The greatest challenge with the government was its unilateralism over issues of salaries and conditions of service. The government is also unilaterally carrying out a job evaluation that it will impose on its civil servants.
“An engagement with civil servants could have been more appropriate in generating industrial harmony and productivity. Sadly, the government is acclimated to command and control tactics rather than logical disputation that has traction.”
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) echoed these sentiments, with secretary general Robson Chere describing the increment as a product of an illegal joint negotiating platform.
He stated, “The ZCPSTU [Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions] misrepresented to workers to agree to that bogus outcome of a US$40 increment. This is the same reason why as Artuz, we have been at the forefront in demanding a genuine collective bargaining platform that is in line with our constitution, where genuine negotiations can take place. The current so-called outcome of the US$40 increment is a nullity. The exchange rate will wipe away the so-called increment as the bank rate is deliberately fixed below real market rate.”
