The majority of civil servants, among them teachers, will start receiving their United States dollar bonus payments this week, a cabinet minister has said.
A fortnight ago, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development announced that this year’s bonus for civil servants and civil service pensioners will be paid in US dollars.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mavima told State Media on Saturday that payments will start this week. Said Mavima:
In fact, the money (bonus) should have come in with the November salary, but it will start reflecting in bank accounts this week or before the end of the month.
Normally it is those in the education sector that start receiving and from my understanding, the bulk of the civil servants will receive their bonus this month and the rest next month.
In a related development, the National Joint Negotiation Council (NJNC) will meet this week to deliberate on civil servants’ salaries and a possible Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).
Apex Council secretary David Dzatsunga yesterday confirmed that the meeting has been slated for tomorrow. He said:
The meeting is now on Monday at 10 am. We are going to discuss the issue of the bonus and the need for a Cost of Living Adjustment.
More importantly on salaries, we want the Government to consider paying us in US dollars as they are going to do with the bonus.