By Karen Nyeraurombo
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube says it is incorrect to say the government has not done anything about the plight of civil servants who are currently demanding better wages and working conditions.
He said the government has done a lot better a lot and continues to do good to its workers far better than what private sector is doing.
Speaking during an interview with CITE, Minister Ncube said
“We have done a lot for civil servants and it is not correct to say that we have done nothing, right now as I speak, we had about 60% of the poverty datum line in terms of salaries.
“Secondly that is about US$205 equivalent in terms of their salaries, in fact I am going to talk about the lowest paid civil servants, so it is not true that we have done nothing.
“It is also not true that inflation is believed to be an issue, actually inflation is coming down. So, as inflation comes down and as government continue to push wages up which we will, you will find that the plight of civil servants will get better and better.
“I’m aware that some members of the private sector have actually been left behind by the government in terms of their salary adjustments.
“Through the TNF structure we have been having conversations with government as employers so that we can improve the plight of all our workers right across the economy, so it is not true to say we have done nothing, we have done a lot.
“You talk about civil servants queuing up and being fleece by money sharks that is really my concern, it is the President’s concern, it is the government’s concern.
“That is why we set up this loan saving loan scheme through the Salary Service Bureau working with treasury, it is new, and it has been literally running for about six to eight months and I want to say to civil servants, please join the scheme, it’s voluntary but it will save you a lot in terms of the interest you’re paying to loan sharks.
“Some of them are not aware, maybe we have not publicized it enough, we should do more so that they get away from these loan sharks who are ripping them off.
“We have done a lot for civil servants in general, I just don’t want to talk about the teachers, but we have done a lot since 2018 since we introduced domestic currency”.
